Star Trek: Challenger
by 30Minutes
Summary: 50 years after the Dominion War, a disastrous accident at the edge of a colossal spatial phenomenon forces the aging Captain Aimes into a command he never asked for, while a much larger crisis unravels, collapsing the foundations of the entire Federation
1. Chapter 1: Dominos

Disclaimer: I do not own anything from the Star Trek universe, except for the characters in this story which are my own creation. Any conflict or likeness to characters or ships thought of by other authors are completely unintentional

Thanks for reading! I'd love a review or two as well!

Chapter 1: Domino

Starbase 4-3 was a large station on the edge of explored space in the Alpha Quadrant. It sits on the edge of a phenomenon known as the Burren – a warp-inhibiting expanse. The station primarily serves as a biological experimentation centre. It is also the last outpost of any kind for ships travelling beyond the expanse, of which little is documented.

"...A nice, quiet, final assignment before retirement."

"Sir?"

"I'm far too old to be gallivanting around the stars anymore, Lieutenant Pemley." The archaic shape of Captain Noah Aimes stood up with the aid of his walking stick. An unfortunate necessity in his later years "This is nice, a little place to see me through to the end of my Starfleet career."

"You make it sound like it's below you, sir. It's a fine station, my brother…"

"It's exactly what I wanted, Lieutenant." The Captain raised a hand, signaling the man to stop from making an invalid point. "Like I said, I'm too old for a starship. I didn't expect, or want, any more. That's all."

Lieutenant Pemley concentrated again on the shuttlecraft's controls. They would be dropping out of warp momentarily. He had accepted the Captain's answer and began liaising again. "My brother used to be a xenobiologist out here. Every so often a ship would come from the dark side of the Burren with something new to present. I can't really understand why Starfleet doesn't investigate further into the phenomenon."

"Is it something that interests you, Lieutenant?"

"The unknown interests me sir.

"Perhaps you secretly desire to follow in your brother's footsteps and become a scientist?"

"No sir. I have bigger plans than just marooning myself on a station. No offence, sir."

"What sort of plans?" The Lieutenant noticed he didn't say 'none taken'.

"I hope to have my transfer to the Discovery processed within the next few weeks, sir. Before her inaugural mission. She's going to investigate the Delta quadrant." Aimes didn't respond. "It's a long overdue mission, in my opinion. Captain…"

"Captain Carver has talked of nothing else over the last few weeks. He's an excitable young man." Aimes responded, almost irritable at the thought of the insufferable Captain Carver.

"He's hardly a young man, sir."

"Young is a relative term, Pemley. Still, I think he's a good man and a good choice for the mission at hand." He lied. The Captain looked over to his pilot. "And I'm sure he'll need inquisitive young officers like you to make that mission a success." The young lieutenant smiled.

"Thank you sir. It is my firm belief that Starfleet should concentrate on making the unknown known and to neutralise any threats to the Federation."

"You can neutralise threats by diplomacy too. The Federation didn't become the Federation by firing first. Are our shields up?"

"Yes, sir. Or by letting the opposition fire first." The lieutenant suggested. Captain Aimes smiled as he moved to his rear seat in the shuttle.

"I suppose we have to be prepared for anything." He sat back and looked over the notes on his datapad. His liaisons, his new crew, statistics, arrivals, departures, transfers, diagnostics, new routines, orders, profiles – enough to send someone into a deep, deep sleep. "Anything..."

The control console bleeped.

"Coming out of warp now, sir..."

They arrived to see Starbase 4-3 exploding. What looked like a chain reaction explosion from the bottom of the outpost spread in less than ten seconds to the top. Nearby and docked ships shattered and their hard shells flew everywhere, one of them impacting the shuttle, which was saved only by the activated shielding. For a few moments, space was on fire, burning hulls were soaring in all directions, most of them being pulled in by the gravity of the gas giant which the station was, until seconds ago, orbiting. One ship in particular looked like it was about to be dragged in forever.

"Pull it together, Pemley! Target that ship and set a course!"

"Yes sir!" Pemley was visibly still shaken. Bits of the station were either shooting by them or hitting them. Aimes scanned the drifting ship to find that there were four life forms on board, but their shields were down and the inertial dampeners were at breaking point.

"Take us in closer. I need to beam out the people who are on that ship."

"If we lower the shields, then we stand a risk of being destroyed by the shrapnel from the explosion, sir!"

"Well then I'll have to rely on your exemplary piloting skills, won't I, Lieutenant?"

"Aye sir!" Pemley closed in on the ship and brought them within range of transport. The other ship was entering the planet's atmosphere. "Sir, how did you know to have shields activated before we dropped out of warp?"

"A little paranoia never hurt anyone, Lieutenant... initiating transport." Four blooded figures were now in the rear of the vessel. Pemley got out of his seat and scanned them with a medical tricoder from a nearby medkit.

"No severe injuries sir. A few burns. But they would surely be dead if we didn't save them!" Aimes looked up from the console for a brief moment to watch the hulk of the civilian vessel be crushed as it dropped into the planet. He switched back to the sensors and analysed all the still-intact vessels. There remained four civilian ships, a medical ship and an Atlantic-class Federation Starship, the USS Challenger. All were heavily damaged. He tried contacting the Challenger, but their communications system seemed to be down.

"Pemley, I want you to beam over to the medical vessel and assist them with repairs, while they help these people. Take all the remaining civilian ships and guide them to Starbase 4-7. It's not far from this location."

"Aye sir, should I contact Starfleet command while I'm over there?" Captain Aimes pressed a large button on his console.

"No need."

Barely five minutes passed before Starfleet were in contact with Captain Aimes again. Aimes switched on the screen and saw the a familiar, grizzly face of Admiral Lawrence White staring him back. The sweet nighttime San Francisco skyline visible in the background through the office window.

"Words be damned, what happened Captain? Are you alright?"

"I've been better, Admiral. I've no idea what's happened. The sensors on my shuttle aren't nearly tuned well enough to find out what caused the explosion. There is a Federation ship still afloat here, but their communications are down. I'd like permission to go aboard and use their sensors to find out what happened here." The Admiral grimaced slightly at this information. "Is there something else?" White was in deep thought. He snapped out to answer.

"Permission granted. And Aimes... the Captain of the Challenger was on a very sensitive mission out there. In case he was... incapacitated because of what happened to the station, you are authorised to take control of the ship. Sweep the for any sensitive objects or clues and then guide her back to the nearest Command base for reassignment."

"Acknowledged. Aimes out." The Captain sat back in his chair and sighed. He dwelt for a minute on the thought of his retirement going up, quite literally, in smoke. He thought about resigning his commission the second the ship was underway and giving command to whoever was next in line. Then for a minute he couldn't think, just automatically set in a course for the damaged Atlantic-class and prepare to dock.

In front of the nearby star which silhouetted the frame, close enough to expose its grand size, but far enough away to get a good look. Challenger was shaped like a rounded pyramid with one side elongated and four nacelles, two coming straight out from either side, one visibly damaged from Aimes' viewing position. Aimes knew nothing of this ship, except that which the shuttlecraft's computer was so generous to display for him on his 45-second journey.

He sent the override code on the shuttlebay doors and landed on the empty deck. The ship was falling apart from the insides. The scary desolation of the shuttlebay was only amplified when a far-away panel came crashing down at the opposite side of the room, creating an absolutely huge boom, causing Aimes to jump slightly. Emergency lighting was on and no one was around. Aimes' stepped out of the shuttle which had been transporting him for the past 4 hours and hobbled to the shuttlebay doors. He could hear voices.

There was a crewman putting out a nearby flame as two others were lifting an officer by the arms and legs, presumably towards sickbay. He pressed a console on the wall and requested the ship schematic, but the computer was clearly haywire. Another pair ran straight by the Captain as he heard the ships computer shouting out the order that all available staff were to head to engineering. No one had noticed him yet, so he followed the two running men.

The engineering doors were already open . There was steam being vented from the upstairs section. Someone was belting out orders from not far away. His back was turned to the Captain. Aimes posed a question. "Who is the chief engineer here?"

"I am..." the man looked over his shoulder and stood to attention. "...Sir! I wasn't aware we had anyone coming on board. I wasn't contact..."

"Your ship to ship communications are down." The officer sighed at this announcement, losing his stiff posture he bellowed out to the platform above.

"HALEY – COMMUNICATIONS ARE DOWN!" His voice echoed in the nearly empty structure. Someone shouted back.

"IF YOU THINK I'M PUTTING COMMUNICATIONS AHEAD OF INERTIAL DAMPENERS AND SENSORS ON THE LIST YOU'RE OUT OF YOUR DAMN MIND!"

"JUST DO IT! THAT'S AN ORDER!" He shrieked, before turning back to the Captain. "I'm sorry, sir. Lieutenant Theodore Jarvis, chief engineer."

"Captain Aimes. As you were Lieutenant. I can see you're busy, so I won't disturb you any further. But I'm unfamiliar with this ship class. Can you tell me how I can find nearest turbolift?"

"To the left at the bottom of the hall. It's not marked, but has a bright light above it." Aimes nodded and began to march out. "Sir? You being here, does that... is Captain Varik still alive sir?" Aimes paused and his head muddled slightly.

"I was hoping you could tell me." They both turned around and the doors closed as the Captain walked off.

He approached the turbolift doors, but stopped short of hitting his nose. "Computer, open turbolift doors." There was no response. "Computer, open...!" A light above Aimes flashed on and he could hear the unmistakable sound of a system booting up. The turbolift doors opened and he walked in. The doors closed behind him. "Bridge." He coughed.

"Hull breach detected on main bridge. Entry not recommended. All bridge officers are to report to auxiliary control." The computer commanded.

"Very well. Auxiliary control." The lights switched off and the lift was left in complete blackness, but for a shred of light coming through the doors. Aimes cursed his luck and began to pull the doors open. He wedged his walking stick in between and forced himself out. Angrily, he smacked the nearest console. "Computer! Ship Schematic!" A display of the ship flashed on the screen. It flickered off intermittently, but he could see that a Jefferies tube leading to Auxiliary was not far from his position. On arrival, he whipped off the cover and climbed in. He stared at the imposing distance upward and sighed. He was too old for this sort of thing. Aimes began his long climb to the top.

Aimes reached the end of the passage a few minutes later and pulled himself out of the closed space. Auxiliary control was marked directly to his right. Inside were two officers, both of whom turned upon hearing his arrival. There was silence as the two parties looked at one another – sizing the other up, analysing, making first impressions. Aimes made the first move.

"My name is Captain Noah Aimes." The first thing he noticed was the officer at navigation, who was a large red lizard with an imposing figure. His jacket was massive and golden. His face was like a crocodile's, except the mouth wasn't quite that long. He had a massive tail that was dragged behind him and he was wearing dark grey gloves.

"Lieutenant Raka Degec, sir! Ship's helmsman and security." His voice was husky, not like anything the commander had expected. Although he knew this species was called Rahrch, he had never met one before, much less one in a Federation uniform. Degec was a terrifying figure. He turned to the other unidentified officer at hand, sitting in the Captain's chair.

"Commander Aria Shelling, first officer." A tall, blonde woman in her mid-thirties answered. She wore the red command uniform. This woman looked very focused and very angry. Aimes could not tell if she wasn't being warm on his account or someone else's. "Can I ask to what we owe the pleasure sir?"

"My primary goal, Commander..." the Captain sat down in the main seat and continued. "Is to make sure that your Captain is alright. We are to sweep the area for any indication of what caused the explosion and then return to the nearest Starbase."

"You needn't worry, sir. Captain Varik is dead. He was on the station when it exploded. On his mission." Shelling sounded less than impressed as she said that.

"I see." Aunes took a minute. He supposed he shouldn't have been surprised at this news. It was a wonder the whole crew weren't dead. "What do we know about the explosion?"

"Not much. But we detected an unknown vessel warping in less than five seconds before the station began to explode. It activated a transporter beam just before we were caught in the fire."

"So it seems our accident was no accident at all. Did you get anything on the ship itself?"

"Not much. We know it came from the Burren. It emitted a strange energy signature, but that was all. We didn't have time to scan it properly."

"Have we got sensors now?" The Auxiliary door opened and a short young woman with blue hair and a blue uniform stepped into the room. She stared at the new Captain for a moment and Aimes was sure she was going to ask 'who are you', but instead she saluted and headed to the science console. "Ensign Haley Kepler reporting for duty, sir. Chief Engineer Jarvis said I would be of more use... up here now."

"You've got an impressive voice, Ensign." Aimes smiled. "I understand you have inertial dampeners and communications back up too?" The ensign looked confused and answered warily.

"Aye, Captain. Sensors are back online."

"Good. Start scanning the debris field. Search for any life signs first. Then anything generating an electronic signature or anything unusual. And beam aboard some wreckage from the bottom of the field. If the explosion started down there, then maybe we can find out what caused it." It wasn't long before Ensign Kepler's sensors began beeping.

"Captain, I'm getting a strong muon reading from nearby! Sir, that's the same energy signature as the ship that warped in! But much smaller this time."

"Captain," Commander Shelling stepped in. "I think I should remind you that our ship is in a critical state at the moment. The weapons are far from working at nominal efficiency. If we enter into combat, we won't last long."

"Sir! It's a much smaller signature; we should be able to take them!" Kepler declared, there was very noticeably a rage in her voice, nearly equating to a bloodlust.

"Ensign!" Shelling barked. She turned back to the Captain. "There are 160 people still alive on this ship. We have a responsibility not to endanger them any further." The Captain was already mindful of the situation. Even though he believed the Commander was right, he still was uneasy at not engaging their only lead in the investigation.

"Do you detect any signs of a weapons on board their ship?" Aimes asked. The science officer gladly obliged.

"Minimal, sir! Just a weapon equivalent to the strength of a single phaser bank. No torpedoes, no disruptors." The Captain slammed his stick on the ground.

"Red alert. Lieutenant, set a course." Commander Shelling was about to speak but Aimes anticipated this. "If they have but one phaser firing, then I believe we may be able to test the waters. If there is any sensitive information remaining, we need to stop anybody from retrieving it." Shelling was not happy, but seemed satisfied at this reasoning. "However, in the event that we have to enter armed combat, I think… it would be prudent to have our weapons officer on standby."

"Tactical officer Greer is currently in sickbay, sir. The doctor reckons he will be incapacitated for the next few hours."

"Well Commander, would you kindly…" Shelling stood up and strode over to the weapons console.

"Yes sir, I was formerly a tactical officer on the Masada."

"Well let's hope you don't have to remember how to fire phasers."

"Let's." She said dryly.

The Challenger moved on an intercept course. The alien vessel was now visible on the viewscreen. There were still minor explosions going off all around, from loose chemical tanks, secret projects, ruptured weapons and all kinds of materials. Considering the effort it would take to reduce a Federation space station to this, Ensign Haley Kepler shuddered and thought of herself as a little blessed for not being a splat of vapour floating through space. It was easy to forget that there was a small ship in the area in the middle of the disaster. The viewscreen did not clearly show the other ship. Degec magnified the view and a blurry ship was visible. Looking at it was like looking at rain impacting a puddle.

"Lieutenant, can you clean up that image?"

"The image is on maximum resolution, Captain. That ship is… blurry." The navigator sounded bemused.

"Scanning the ship now… sir, whatever it is, it's acting as some sort of semi-cloaking device. I can't get a read on any of their systems or their crew."

"Is it of the same kind as the ship that was here earlier?"

"Negative. I'm reading muon propulsion, but also a heavy gravimetric field indicating a quantum singularity…"

"Romulans?" Commander Shelling asked.

"And also dilithium deposits. Like in Federation ships!"

"We're being scanned sir!" The ensign was alert. "It's coming from the alien vessel." The alien vessel appeared to spin. "They're raising shields!"

"Are they arming weapons?"

"I… I can't tell! There's too much interference from the cloak."

"Captain! Recommend that we take the initiative and fire first." Lieutenant Degec turned around in his seat. He was clearly anxious for revenge. The Captain was spared from making a decision. The alien ship entered warp. Through the Burren. But the sensors did not go blank. They detected a remaining life sign. What looked like a man in a spacesuit was a lot odder on scanning. It appeared that the creature was 100 liquid. The Captain ordered that he be transported directly to the brig. Aimes picked up his walking stick and headed to the turbolift. "Commander Shelling, you have the con. Maybe now we'll get some answers."

The turbolifts were working again. Aimes stopped on deck 12, at sickbay. The Captain marched in. There were unzipped bodybags all over the floor. A lot of the bodies inside had fatal burns. Some of the faces had been completely singed off. The beds of the infirmary were all full, with most of the patients unconscious. Two nurses were walking between people on the beds, monitoring them. A tall, male, Kikiran doctor stepped forward. It was obvious that he was Kikiran because of his dark skin and almost cubic head.

"Hello Captain. I am Doctor Bebetos… it's good to know someone is in command again. It was threatening to get out of hand for a while."

"Pleasure to meet you doctor. Although my command is only temporary. Doctor, I need to borrow you for a while, is that possible?" The Doctor looked at his nurses and then back at the Captain. There was no emergency here, and the Doctor consented to joining the Captain.

The two men made their way down to the next turbolift and stood uneasily next to one another. Still, the doctor thought it was necessary to make conversation, but he needn't have, as the Captain spoke first. "What's the situation in the sickbay?"

"We're currently treating 12 patients. None of them critical. Lieutenant Commander Greer has a collapsed lung and both his knees were crushed, but he's stable. He'll probably retain a permanent cough, but after an hour long burst in the recovery chamber, he'll be fit to leave before the end of the day and return to duty tomorrow."

"How did he get that way?"

"He held open a collapsing Jefferies tube between decks 7 and 8. Saved a crew member. It was brave, but I understand no good deed goes unpunished. There was a very likely chance both of them would have been killed."

"No one is expendable, doctor. You should know that. It appears Lt. Cmdr. Greer does. Any chance of psychological trauma?"

"Other than the headcase he already is? No." The Captain shot him a glance. "Joking, of course, sir."

"Of course."

"If want me to sir, I can take a look at your leg?"

"No- thank- you. It's Boweng's disease. It's incurable."

"That's unfortunate, sir. Perhaps an operation to..."

"No, Doctor. Besides, the stick makes me look distinguished." The Doctor smiled.

"Right you are, sir."

Doctor Bebetos and Captain Aimes were in the brig area within moments, with a less than readable guest on the other side of an invisible wall. He was of average height and slim build. His outfit was like a light blue jumpsuit; uncomplimentary and quite clearly, as Aimes deducted, purely ergonomic, rather than stylised. Its helmet was reminiscent of those worn by Roman Gladiators of ancient Earth. It was short, but curved at the back. The front was metallic, angled slightly outward, with a design of three luminous bright blue carved rectangles standing vertically upon it. Through the barrier, the Captain detected a smell a lot like the waft of the liquid medicines he had as a child. What manner of creature was this?

"My report, Captain; this creature is made out of 100 liquid. An unknown liquid, but highly dense and complex. Extreme viscosity, I think. The suit is merely a fashionable container to keep it in a somewhat solid and manageable form."

"You could have just asked!" The creature replied indignantly, slouching its right shoulder and growling electronically. He turned to the Doctor. "And it's a HE, for your information." Aimes was impressed. The Doctor was not.

"Its gender is indeterminable without more thorough examination... though 'HE' would know better than I would. I would guess his voice is..."

"Generated by an artificial construct within my helmet. Aren't we quite the analyst?" Aimes waved the Doctor away and slowly strutted up to the edge of the cell. He sized up the entity and took in what he saw – body movements (what you could call his body), mannerisms, build, everything.

"Why did you blow up Starbase 4-3?" Aimes accused.

"That would be the obvious conclusion, wouldn't it? An unidentified alien mysteriously appears at a scene of an incalculably large disaster. I can't blame you for coming to that eventuality, Captain. I think I heard him call you Captain?" The creature was swaggering around his cell in circles. Aimes did not answer. "Unfortunately the truth is that I am no more than a small-time scavenger. I revel in other people's loss and despair, but I never cause any myself. I'm not so ruthlessly inclined."

"10,000 Federation citizens lost their lives on board that station. I'll thank you not to make a mockery of it." Aimes wondered if the creature was smiling underneath that mask.

"I am no murderer." The alien sounded quite more serious. "And the dead need nothing but space. I steal from no one."

"Maybe if you were dead too you wouldn't need their belongings either?" The creature wasn't walking anymore. He didn't respond to the Captain's insight. Lack of eyes was a problem, he couldn't read this being at all. No observable body language, apart from a quite regular ripple of the suit every few seconds. "What are you called?" Aimes waited for a response. He would have willingly waited much longer than he had to.

"Seerv. Brigadier, top circle of the Velocin navy. And you would do well not to threaten me again Captain. My ship could strip this one apart in the shortest instant."

"I don't think so. If that's true, then why did your ship run away, leaving you to defend yourself?"

"Because that wasn't- my- ship." The Captain smirked and began to walk for the exit. "I really didn't do it, you know."

"I'm not sure if I believe much of what you say. But I do believe one thing you said, because you said it as I would have said it." The creature and the Captain stared at one another. "This isn't my ship either." Aimes swept out and the doors closed behind him.

The ready room doors opened. Commander Shelling stepped in with her hands behind her back. She stood tall and mean, not quite meeting her superior's gaze. Aimes waved her to be at ease and she sat down. Beside him was his walking stick. He was reading a datapad of available crew and an overall engineering report from Lieutenant Jarvis. He cleared his throat.

"We have a rather interesting guest on board, Commander."

"As I understand, sir." Aimes put down the datapad.

"And...?"

"I think he should be interrogated as much as possible. Even if he is not the perpetrator of the attack on the station, he knew enough about it to be on hand to scour the remains." She still wasn't looking directly at the Captain.

"Agreed. I want you to take over the investigation and..."

"Respectfully sir, I believe we should wait until Commander Greer is back on duty. He is much more experienced and adept at investigations." Aimes didn't frown, though he was tempted. He sat forward in his seat and placed his elbows on the table, joining his hands.

"Do you have a busy schedule I am unaware of, Commander?" Shelling hesitated.

"Permission to speak freely, sir?" Aimes nodded. Shelling moved a hand onto the table and finally looked him in the eye. "Stand down. Relieve yourself as Captain and let me take us back to Starbase 4-3. The crew is rattled. Desperately rattled. And you can't win them over. They've lost a Captain they've loved and you've treated them with a cold hand. And it's only a matter of time before you upset them. And I really don't want to have to relieve from duty a man of your age. They'll all feel a lot better if someone they know is in charge." Aimes didn't move for a few minutes. He held his first officer's gaze. His stare contained anger and a message. He was waiting for her to crack, but realised that this woman was rigid. She meant every word of what she had just said and, what's worse, he thought, believed it. He sat back in his chair, swung it to one side and tapped his right hand fingers on the table.

"I suspected you were an ambitious woman when I first met you, Commander." Shelling threw her eyes to the sky and met the side of his face with her gaze.

"This is not about..."

"I'm not finished!" Aimes' eyes darted to his right and hit back at hers. He waited a moment and spoke. "This crew has been hurt, I know. But a handshake and a hug won't get them to safety quickly and security is what they need most right now. If I have to be in some way obnoxious to get them to do their jobs better then so be it. And I don't give a damn if my age, or this..." he slammed his palm down on his walking stick "...makes anyone think I can perform less capably than anyone else, because I know it doesn't, and that's what matters. For now, the more expediently I can get us to Stardock 4-5, the less painful it has to be for us all." He swung to his right and picked up the datapad. "Interrogate the alien and give me your report. Dismissed." Shelling stood up and leaned on the table with both hands.

"I can assure you that my career comes second ahead of the welfare of this crew!"

"And your career is even lower in my list of priorities, Commander." He threw the datapad on the table."The reality is that on arrival, you'll be given command of this vessel and I'll disappear into obscurity, never to be heard of again. Now go do your bloody job." She stood upright and began to turn. "A word of advice, Commander. Our guest doesn't respond well to threats. And I don't either." Shelling marched out of the ready room and the doors slipped closed behind her. Aimes grunted and started reading his datapad again.

"Why did you blow up the station?" Shelling was leaning back against the wall of the brig.

"You're different from the others." Seerv replied. "Something in the body shape... The voice... The face..." His head rotated from side to side slowly. "You're a female, aren't you?"

"Were you trying to destroy the station, or something on board the station?" She asked impatiently.

"You're the second person to ask me questions today. It must be that certain spectrum of light. On your uniform. Tell me, what do you call it?"

"Colour. Red." She entertained. "Was it just you, or were there more involved?"

"Colour? Fascinating. I don't see it. I just see different frequencies. You know, I spend most of my time scavenging, but I do like to dedicate time to Zoology. I wish our roles were reversed. I'd take much better care of you strange little aliens than you do of me."

"Where did you come from?" Shelling was losing interest rapidly.

"Isn't it time you gave up Commander? So far the only one of us who's actually answered a question from the other is you." Shelling walked forward quickly and slammed her fist against the bulkhead.

"I'm the nice one!" She hissed. "It's not in the Federation's policy to practice torture, but I assure you this is your only chance to come clean. Because we will break you. We will strip you down to an empty shell of a being and then we'll scrape out the insides until there's nothing left!"

"That sounds an awful lot like torture to me."

"Maybe you don't have any useful information. Maybe you were just a little phlegm that happened to drift by at what you thought was an opportune time. The wrong guy, the wrong place, the wrong time?" She lifted herself from the bulkhead. "Why not just skip all these pleasantries and flush you down the toilet?"

"Because." Seerv appeared to grunt. "In whatever species you end the life of an innocent man, that's murder." He sat down on his bench. "And you don't look like a murderer to me." Shelling's communicator beeped twice. Ensign Kepler's voice came from the speaker.

"Commander Shelling, please report to the bridge."

"On my way." Shelling turned to the security guard and made him apply heavy static through the cell's speakers. "You're getting a little too comfortable." She stepped backward and made for the exit. "Maybe you'll answer some of my questions next time?" As Shelling left the brig she could swear her back was warm.

The doors of auxiliary control slid open and the Commander stepped back onto the temporary bridge. Aimes, Degec, Jarvis and Kepler were already there.

"What's the situation?" The commander asked as she took up her position. The Captain obliged her with a response.

"Four minutes ago, we received a distress call from USS Saratoga, the stationed ship of Stardock 4-5. They're under attack. A large alien vessel has come out of warp and started a seemingly unprovoked attack."

"This is no coincidence."

"My thoughts exactly. Mr Degec, when can we expect to intercept?"

The reptilian gave a quiet roar in his answer. "In 12 minutes. But at maximum warp, we would be there right now."

"I'm an engineer, not a magician!" Chief engineer Jarvis reacted. "Our weapons are shot, but we have one working phaser bank and two torpedo launchers. Both will be ready, should we need to use them."

Haley Kepler butted in. "I'm getting audio from the USS Saratoga. They're in combat with the aggressors now!"

"Put it through." For ten seconds, there was no noise. Then there was static, but it was particularly loud static. The sort that makes the top of your brain feel like it's cracking, thought Jarvis. Then there was a voice.

"largeradioactconnectneverepower..."

"Audio dropped, sir. I think that their comm array has been hit." Ensign Kepler's thinking was wishful, everyone knew it, but the Captain wasn't about to contest it, he was wishing now too. He sat down. "Lieutenant Jarvis, divert all power to engines. Let's move." The next few minutes were tense. Ensign Kepler was shivering. Jarvis was sweating. The auxiliary bridge was very empty all of a sudden. Fear was very evident among this already shaken crew. Time flew.

"30 seconds to arrival." Degec ended the long silence. The Captain stood up, swinging his stick perpendicular to the ground. "Dropping out of warp."

"I have the Saratoga on sensors."

"Onscreen."

The twisted hull of the Saratoga was drifting aimlessly through space. Large holes punctured the visible ventral surface and both nacelles had been blown off the old Intrepid-class ship. Aimes' felt his gut churning. The Saratoga was hardly an underpowered ship. "Report. Survivors." Ensign Kepler's attention stumbled back to her console and the readings spat out at here.

"No life signs, sir. No escape pods detected. But there is residual energy signatures here. Whatever did this damage left here less than ten minutes ago. And sir... the signature matches that of the type of ship that warped in just before the destruction of Starbase 4-3."

"Where does it lead?"

"Stardock 4-5." The Captain was steady but he feared the worst. His jaw moved sideways.

"Set a pursuit course, Lieutenant, maximum warp."

"Aye, Captain. We will arrive at the Stardock in..."

"Sir! Receiving a distress beacon on all channels from the Stardock!" The noise permeated the ship's sound system. This message was much clearer.

"Mayday! To all vessel who receive this – this is Stardock 4-5 requesting urgent assistance! We are under heavy attack from unknown------- request---------- Please!-----------" The transmission cut off there, but the beacon remained. There was still hope.

"... In 2 minutes, sir." Degec finished. Aimes' sat down again and turned to Shelling.

"Commander..."

"Captain, if this attacker is able to seriously assault a Starbase I would advise against any sort of confrontation. Especially considering the condition the ship is currently in."

"We have to help them out! They need assistance; we could make the difference!"

"The only difference we'd make, Lieutenant is adding another 200 names to today's casualty list. Captain, I highly recommend we don't engage." Aimes' thought hard on Shelling's words. She was making sense. But he wasn't prepared to let the attackers get away without being scanned at least.

"Mr Degec. Just how good a pilot would you say you are?"

"An acclaimed one, sir." Degec roared.

"Do you think you can avoid getting hit by a few projectiles and lasers for 60 seconds?"

"Sir, it was Lieutenant Degec's quick action to move us when Starbase 4-3 exploded that meant we have half a ship instead of no ship." Kepler added.

"Well in that case." Aimes straightened his uniform. "Take us in."

The Challenger dropped out of warp and came upon a rather astonishing sight. The Stardock, a mighty structure, much larger than a Starbase, was firing furiously in the direction of an enormous ship, which seemed to be firing back weaponry of equal magnitude to which it was being hit. The ship was a dark, dusty colour. The hull seemed to be built into a a large asteroid and their were six fins coming out of the rear at opposing angles. The Stardock, however, did seem to be winning.

"Open hailing frequencies."

"We're being jammed, sir. I can't get through to the station. It must be the enemy ship."

The alien vessel turned about on the viewscreen. It was pointed directly at the Stardock now and was firing a full barrage at the station, which was soaking it up. Looking at its size, Aimes estimated that there could be as much as ten-thousand people on the alien vessel, as many as the Stardock itself. Today's death toll was about to double, regardless of who won the conflict.

"Sir, I'm reading a massive energy increase in the aft of the enemy ship. Their shields are all directed forward... they're accelerating!" Ensign Kepler shrieked.

The worst really was about to happen. Shelling let a silent 'no' out of her mouth as they watched the gruesome sight of this large asteroid-ship puncturing the almighty space station. The docking arms were the first to go, they broke off like the limbs of a daddy long legs against a small child's fingers, and quickly became stellar debris. Explosions perforated the hull of the station, heading outwards equally in opposite directions. They all looked on in horror as through a large hole in the lower section of the station, dozens of tiny dots were being sucked out into the vacuum. They were people.

The alien ship almost did not come out the other end. It was a barely working wreck, most of its asteroid shield had been eliminated, a large glowing reactor room which could only be assumed to be the warp core was exposed, much like a lot more of the interior, on the top of the ship. As it cleared the wreck of the outpost, a massive explosion disintegrated any evidence that there was something there in the first place, bar the pieces of the station the alien hull was dragging along with it. The silent shock of the Challenger's crew was interrupted by the sound of the comm.

"Incoming communication sir... audio only... it's them."

"Put it through."

What they heard was the wheeze of the universal translator, sweating to understand accurately the voice coming through the speaker. The sound was screechy and reptilian, making sounds not overly familiar to human ears. A computerised-monotonic voice translating the words couldn't silence the noise coming from the alien's throat.

"Will not allow murder of all – You danger to be gone – Not allow weapons buildings – Never to forget-"

The computer stumbled at understanding. Aimes supposed that something was indeed lost in the translation. The next part was easier to understand.

"We are clandestine. You will die." There was a click that indicated the communication had been terminated. Aimes grimaced.

"What's the status of their shields?"

"Down sir. They're vulnerable." Shelling answered.

"Target their warp core. And ready photon torpedoes" Normally the first officer would have hesitated, but she had just seen the disregard for life that these people had. She had known some people on both stations that were destroyed and she would be damned if she gave them a chance to kill her and her crew too.

"Fire." She already had.

The warp core explosion scattered the alien vessel into millions of pieces. Almost everything was completely shattered and there were no survivors. Degec looked unmoved, but it was hard to tell under his stern face. Kepler felt apprehensive. She was sick at the thought of everyone who had died today. The Captain's expression had not changed. Murderers, he thought. Bloody murderers. They got what they deserved.

Aimes found himself at the bar, making friends with the robotic bartender. These days the bartenders were standard at most recreational areas on Starfleet vessels. Even if someone was all alone on a starship, there'd still be a familiar face. The Captain knew subconsciously that that was why he was here.

The bar was small enough so that everyone knew just about everyone who was in there, but large enough so that you wouldn't necessarily hear any conversation that wasn't your own. The lighting was lower than it was in most areas of the ships, with a predominant ambient glow from green and purple sources dotted around the ceiling. It had a sweet smell of berries from the moment you entered, which, some cynics speculated, slowed saliva-gland production to make one more thirsty.

The doors opened and a man wearing a red uniform walked through. He spotted the Captain and walked over to the next chair, motioned to the bartender and put his hand on the seat.

"Is anyone sitting here?" The man asked.

"Only my conscience." The Captain replied. "But he left some time ago. I don't suspect that he's coming back."

"You must be the new Captain." The man smiled. "Captain Noah Aimes. I know about you, sir. I remember you back at the academy."

"I am afraid I don't remember..."

"Oh we've never met, sir. I just remember seeing you there. I was never a master or lecturer." He was much too young for that. "You were always walking around the grounds with a bulldog." The Captain had to smile now. "And he always went to the bathroom right next to Admiral Jiminez's office door."

"Sometimes I had to convey my opinions to the Admiral in a somewhat creative manner." Aimes finally looked up and spotted the rank of Lieutenant Commander on the man's neck. "You seem to know a lot about me and I don't know the first thing about you." The bartender brought over two bright green drinks. The men lifted their drinks, nodded and drank. "Well, now I know that you're a fan of sweet drinks." The Lieutenant Commander was looking at the bottom of the glass.

"Stardrifters do have a little kick to them, don't they? It's a really unique taste. Not like back home." A little cough came from the back of his throat, but it was enough to give the Captain a clue.

"Greer. Your name is Greer."

"Ah. The doctor told you about my little cough, did he?"

"Actually, it's because there's only one Lieutenant Commander on board. And if you're not Mr. Greer, then you're either an intruder or an impostor."

"Mmph! Yes, speaking of intruders... I was wondering how long you'd be staying with us? If you don't mind me asking, sir?" The Captain tried to stifle a sigh and scratched his shoulder. He had been speaking to Starfleet command since the alien ship had been destroyed. They ordered a state of emergency in this sector. All Starfleet vessels were to be on alert in case the unknown foe was to return. Some were being stationed near all bases in the area. This meant delaying the reassignment of crew from Challenger. Including him. It was fair to say the Captain was less than happy with this news.

"For the... foreseeable future." He gulped and turned back again. "Now what about you? You never answered whether you're an impostor or not."

"Mm-hmm..."

"As a matter of fact, you've not answered one of my questions that I don't already know the answer to." Greer smiled.

"Then I suppose there's no harm in telling you that I am indeed Lieutenant Commander Cathal Greer. I have served on board this ship for one year. I have a cough." The man nodded at the bartender again. "And I very much like sweet Ferengi drinks."

"You weren't originally a command student either."

"What makes you say that, Captain?"

"Because of our lack of formality."

"Maybe that's just because we're in an informal setting?"

"You're not engineering or security because you're not spending your free time obsessing over warp engines. Or in the holodeck recreating some conflict." The Captain spoke as if Greer had said nothing. He was deep in a train of thought.

"Even those who wear yellow shirts need to relax." Greer offered.

"And you're not medical because any doctor worth his salt knows that Ferengi Stardrifters are just a step above swallowing dilithium on the food pyramid." Greer laughed and let out another cough.

"So... what am I?" He asked, quite interested.

"Intelligence." Greer nearly spit out his second Stardrifter with laughter.

"You have a very active imagination, Captain. Have you ever considered writing a book?" He swallowed the Stardrifter whole. "Rest assured Captain, my past is nothing so exotic. I'm a humble man from Wicklow. I appreciate things that taste well, I am the third in command of this ship and I'm also very glad we could have our first conversation outside of the bridge or ready room." He stood up and placed his seat back to where it was before he entered. "Unfortunately, I am also about to go on night duty."

"Do you always drink alcohol before you go on duty?" The Captain raised an eyebrow.

"It's a virgin drink sir. No alcohol involved." Greer smiled, straightened his uniform at the neck. "Not much of a difference, but still an important one. Good evening, Captain." The Lieutenant Commander left the bar and Aimes went back to his thoughts. He couldn't trust that man. No matter what. But he said something that set fire to a thought he had been procrastinating over.

He had someone he had to speak to.

"I know you weren't responsible for the explosion on the Starbase." Aimes said.

"Thank you, Captain. It's nice to hear someone around here actually believes me." Seerv grunted. His arms were dead. Aimes supposed that they were just not powered because they were not being used at the moment.

"But you used the same technology as our aggressors. At least we detected the same energy signature."

"My ship uses an amalgam of technologies from other species, Captain. While I could go though a large list for you, it would be near impossible to tell you which one it was without my ship here."

"Then we'll find your ship. Take you home. Let you go. Then maybe you can help us." This generous offer seemed to take the liquid lifeform by surprise.

"Perhaps."

"Good. Until then, you will remain under armed guard. I'll have you moved to more comfortable surroundings." The Captain walked toward the door, but Seerv called after him.

"Captain... what do you know about your attacker?"

"Not much. They jammed our communication, then sent us a message. Saying that we would die. Saying that they are..."

"Clandestine?" Seerv interrupted. "They said they are Clandestine." The Captain stepped back up to the cell's entrance.

"Yes. That's right. They did." The Brigadier was silent for a few minutes. He and the Captain were exchanging glares for a long time. Finally the captive spoke.

"You're in a lot of trouble, Captain."

Aimes turned and left. His comm badge beeped and Lieutenant Jarvis was on the other end. The turbolift repairs were complete and the blockages had been removed. On the way up he thought about what had happened; the bases that had been destroyed today. It was unlikely that the events were unconnected. If an enemy force was on the other side of the burren, then the first thing they would set about doing would be eliminating any forward defenses Starfleet may have in either direction of their initial attack. That would mean 4-7 was next. The first two bases had fallen like dominos and Aimes swore he would not let it fall alongside them.

The bridge was accessible.

Aimes entered onto the bridge for the first time. Greer at the tactical console was the first to announce 'Captain on deck', as the bridge officers and all repair crew stood to. Aimes stepped down the slanted walkway to the Captain's chair. Commander Shelling was standing just beside. In front of them were Degec and Kepler, while behind on a slightly raised level were Greer and Jarvis. Four standing junior officers occupied the miscellaneous other sidewall consoles. Aimes didn't know their names yet. He figured he wouldn't have been staying long enough to bother finding out. All that was about to change.

A lot was going to change.

The Captain took his seat and the officers returned to their posts. He placed his walking stick on his lap and got a feel for the Captain's chair. It was large and warm, the type of chair you wait your whole life to get into and never want to get off of even as the Devil himself and all the evil in the universe tried to prise you away. He had been a desk Captain for too long. It was good to be back in that chair.

"Mr. Degec, set a course for Starbase 4-7."

"Course laid in sir." The huge Lieutenant replied.

"Engage."

End

Next Episode: Derelict


	2. Chapter 2: Derelict, Part 1

_My apologies for the small mistakes in Chapter 1, such as poor scene separation and a few little spelling, punctuation and nomenclature typos here and there. I'm putting it down to my inexperience with handling Hope you're all enjoying it thus far, so without further ado: part two..._

**Chapter 2: Derelict, Part 1**

The mess hall was noisy this morning. Breakfast had finished, but not the activity. People all around were chatting, spinning yarns, reading books and playing games, as Doctor Bebetos and Lt. Commander Greer were. Their game of three-dimensional chess was their second this morning and so far, Greer was well in control of the board again.

"It doesn't follow suit." The large Kikiran doctor said. "I have many more qualifications than you do, I have played more chess than you, I am older A ND I have more experience. By all rights, I should be pummelling you easily." The tactical officer and chief of security shifted in his seat.

"First of all, you have many qualifications, that is true." Greer smiled. " Played more chess? Well, I can't dispute that. You probably have. You are older than me by ONE year. And as for more experience..." The commander picked up his water and took a large sip. "Don't even suggest... but I'll give you a hand." He moved his pawn up two levels. "Now, it is possible for you to mate me in two moves, IF you get the right move this time. However, if you don't, I'll have you mated in three."

"Commander, if I teased you on the operating table as much as you tease me in our games then you'd accuse me of breaking the Hippocratic oath." Bebetos said as he studied the board rigorously.

"Sometimes I do feel that way. Isn't there anything you can do for this bloody cough?"

"Theoretically, yes, but then I'd be breaking my lethargic oath." Bebetos smirked smugly as his cubic head eyed up a move. His bishop moved to a certain square, signalling checkmate in one move. He sat back and watched as Greer, unexpectedly, moved, in a rapid fashion, his rook to a very compromising position. The doctor's expression slumped.

"Checkmate. But it's ok." Greer modestly waved his arms. "I won't take any money off you this time."

"But you said if I made the correct move..."

"I know, and that was the right move. But let it be a lesson to you, Doctor – never, ever trust your opponent." While he was intensely studying the board, Commander Shelling had slipped in unnoticed.

"Doctor, if you're quite finished losing, may I have a seat?" Bebetos did not hear her. Greer stood up.

"It's alright Commander. I think the Doctor needs a... formidable amount of time for his post match analysis. Let's take a walk." They both made their way out into the corridor. Greer coughed again and straightened his uniform. "What's on your mind, sir?"

"Our guest in the quarters on deck 6." Shelling stopped and turned to the third-in-command. "He is not very forthcoming with information. He also does not co-operate well with women." She looked uncomfortable as she said that. "I want you to question him." Greer crossed his arms.

"I thought the Captain didn't think he was of any further use."

"That is the Captain's belief, yes." She looked to her left for a moment, then looked him in the eye. "It is my belief that we just have not pursued the correct line of questioning."

"Hmm." Greer nodded. "I see. Well, while it is possible to investigate the prisoner further, it would go beyond all legal Starfleet procedures to do so." He straightened up. "I cannot officially be ordered by a superior to do that." He scratched his elbow. "Although I can be ordered not to..."

Shelling breathed in and became stiff. There was a sudden change in the atmosphere. The Lieutenant Commander had his eyes fixed on hers intensely. She didn't like it. But her stance was one that commanded authority and she sought to instil that in him. "Lieutenant Commander, I cannot in good conscience condone that act, as it would go against the everything the Federation stood for. It is illegal. It is abhorrent. And it is wrong." Shelling waited for a moment before stepping away briskly from her subordinate, who cleared his throat and spoke in a whisper.

"Aye-aye, ma'am."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Thus far Captain, the evidence is irrefutable." Chief engineer Jarvis said as he led Captain Aimes around the laboratory, meandering between officers and the large pieces of scrap metal that they had salvaged from Starbase 4-3. "The metallurgical analysis confirms that the explosion originated from inside this container." He picked up the a shard of metal. "Or... what's left of this container."

"And what does that tell us?" The Captain rested his weight on the stick that he had carried around with him for years now. He had almost forgotten where it came from.

"It tells us a lot, all of it not good. Do you see these blue marks? They're evidence of a lithium-tetranitrobutane reaction explosion, characteristic of a concussion bomb." The engineer raised up a loose flap hanging off the the bottom of the scrap, revealing several scratchy, but noticeable vertical blue lines on the surface. "See? You can tell it was a two-part explosion because these lines are slightly out of alignment with the others."

"A concussion bomb. Like the type used in the conflict with the Romulans a few years ago?" The Captain was referring to a conference 2 years previous where the Federation and the Empire were to hold cordial talks about the possibility of a union. However, a disenchanted Starfleet lieutenant had programmed a shuttlecraft, loaded with a Federation concussion warhead to intercept the Romulan ambassadorial vessel. The ambassador survived and the Lieutenant disappeared, but relations with the Star Empire had been set back by years.

"Yes sir, Federation standard. And there's more; this container, as far as we can ascertain, was at some point, a security container in the station commander's quarters." Aimes' paranoia slipped in. Had someone meant that bomb for him? Why? No, of course not. No reason. The Captain scratched the back of his head. "The scary part? Someone of considerable rank would need to have placed this bomb in this container in the first place."

"Yes, Lieutenant. That is rather scary." As the Captain said that, the lighting in the laboratory failed. Seconds later, the lights came back online.

"My apologies, Captain, I think that's going to be happening on and off until we get back to a Starbase for some serious repairs."

"Why wasn't I told about this?"

"Sir, every report I submit goes through Commander Shelling, so I assume she gives them to..."

"From now on, you tell ME everything. Directly. There will be no channel from you to me except the direct one. And as for repairs, well, you'll be delighted to know that we won't have to wait that long. I've been talking to Starfleet command and they're of the opinion that the ship will fall apart before we get home to Starbase 4-7, so they're sending out advance crews to help us with the repairs." Teddy Jarvis looked a little miffed at this information.

"With all due respect, sir, this ship will never fall apart while I have a breath in my body."

"For what it's worth, in the small time I've been in command here, you've performed in a most satisfactory fashion, Lieutenant. And I believe you. However, Starfleet don't quite have as much faith as I do. Besides, it'll lighten your workload." The Captain patted him on the back.

"As long as they don't mess with my warp algorithms..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The door of the liquid Brigadier Seerv's quarters beeped. The alien's attention peaked, and he found himself staring at the grey surface, as someone on the other side typed in a security code. He stood to, expecting the Captain, but it was not Aimes who walked through.

"You're a new one." Seerv said, as the man walked in holding a small case in his left hand. He took a seat opposite Seerv. "That is to say I haven't seen you before. Your shape is somewhat different." The man opened the case and switched on a device. "You know it's rude not to introduce oneself in such intimate surroundings?"

"It's not me who is going to answer questions in here." He said when the device booted up. He initialised a containment field around Seerv. "And you may not approve of the questions I'm going to ask." He pressed a button on his small portable console and Seerv showed some discomfort "I know your species. I know what you do. I know where you come from and I know that this sound I'm making – it hurts you a lot." He pressed another button and Seerv fell to the floor as if his solid bodysuit just wasn't working anymore. "What I don't know... and what I want to know is: what are you doing here?"

"The-- Captain promised that-!"

"You should not worry about the Captain so much as your own person." He pressed another button. One more button and the water-alien began boiling. "I also know that this should be quite painful and I really don't want to make this last any longer than it has to, so please, tell me what I want to know." Greer coughed. "You should have listened to Commander Shelling." He made some adjustments to his seat. "You should have been co-operative. She's the nice one, or didn't she tell you?" He pushed a slider on the console and the suit started making an odd noise. "Now, you're going to tell me everything."

Fifteen minutes later, Greer emerged from the prisoner's quarters. He nodded to the security personnel. Loyal to their security chief, they weren't about to tell anyone what happened. The lighting flickered as he set for the laboratory, deck 7.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was three hours later when the repair crews arrived. Three small ships, not much larger than shuttlecraft pulled up off the stern of the ship. Twenty engineers of all denominations piled off the ships and into the transporter bay. The Lead Co-ordinator was a Vulcan named Lujot. He had an interesting presence about him, very commanding, very independent. Captain Aimes was on hand to meet the crews as they came aboard.

The crews began to work immediately, while Captain Aimes invited Lujot for lunch in the mess hall and a tour of the mezzanine level. Lujot politely declined, wishing to assist his team with repairs. Aimes was both relieved and disappointed at this. He had always found Vulcans to be insufferable, boring and terrible conversationalists, yet at the same time, it had been a while since he had had anyone else level headed to talk to. He walked back to his quarters and turned the lights down, lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. There was nothing doing for a while. He didn't notice that the lights started dimming deeper and that the temperature of the air was slowly rising.

In the meantime, Lieutenant Degec had dropped into sickbay. He was not a frequent visitor, so much so that Doctor Bebetos was delighted when he came in the door, as he rarely had the time to talk to his reptilian friend normally. In fact, Degec had not been in a sickbay since he was first examined by Starfleet medical upon his entry into the academy years ago. He headed for one of the inspection beds to have a seat.

"Hello, my cold-blooded friend. What can I do for you today?"

"I have a headache." He hummed. "It is highly uncomfortable and is now impeding my work."

"Well," Bebetos picked up his tricorder. "Let's see what can be done... there's some inflammation in your parietal lobes. Not been getting much rest lately?"

"I haven't slept in two days..."

"Well that would be it."

"..Because of the headaches!" He barked.

"Oh. Then I'll have to investigate further, shan't I?" The doctor swept the scanner over the large Rahrch like a fine artist would move a brush over a canvas. "How is your lovely pet these days?"

"Snowdrop is in good health." Snowdrop was a horrible-looking beast from the Rahrch homeworld. A ten-legged insect that fed on electrical discharges. They were first discovered near the site of a permanent electrical storm phenomenon on the southern hemisphere of the planet. Despite their horrific appearance, the creatures were quite dull, easy to domesticate, required little wandering space, in spite of their large size, and made a somewhat cute noise when petted. "You are not a vet, doctor."

"No, but I'm the next best thing. And while 'Snowdrop' may be in perfect physical health, you are not. Your species is telepathic, yes?"

"That's correct. But only to another one of my race. There are none on board."

"Nevertheless, you are showing familiar signs of one who is suffering from 'reconnection'. It's not uncommon among telepaths. Your brain is just trying to get back into the swing of things after being disconnected from familiar wave patterns for so long. It shouldn't last for too long, but for the time being, I'm going to give you a mild anaesthetic. Go straight to bed and take it, and you should be fine to report for duty tomorrow morning." The doctor switched off his tricorder and got some medicine.

"Thank you doctor. Have you any idea where these signals are coming from?"

"Maybe there is another Rahrch as part of one of the repair teams that have just come aboard?"

"Maybe."

"I'll check it out for you. In the meantime, have a good night's rest. And say hello to Snowdrop for me!" The large Kikiran smiled. Degec nodded and headed to his quarters briskly. He didn't notice the increase in heat immediately, or the lights dimming, the headache annulling the change in both. He thought to himself that even though he was an abnormal crew member amongst all the humans, at least there was someone odder than him in the doctor. At least Degec had nostrils.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Haley Kepler was in the holodeck. She had been busying herself repairing all non-essential systems now that the others were being taken care of by the damage-crew. Besides, she had missed out on her last fatigue shift because of all the recent goings-on. And she particularly missed not partaking in her final heat at the Adelaide Grand Prix of 2077, yesterday.

She had been working at the grid for over an hour with no luck. She cursed and thwacked at the console and something blinked. "Finally!" She exclaimed. "Computer, initiate diagnostic of holo-systems... computer... computer, respond."

There was no response. Haley lost her patience and wasn't paying enough attention to notice a few other things. The room was getting warmer and the lights were getting dimmer. Not until it was completely black, did she even snap herself out of her temper. The room was very warm and heating up. The console lights had gone off and there was no sound.

"Computer? Computer!... sorry?" She felt around for her flashlight and switched it on. She wasn't in some odd holographic recreation. She was still in the holodeck, but there was no power. "Friggin' machine." She grumbled and punched the once-lit console. She walked to the door, but it did not open. "Computer! Comp- oh forget it!" She wedged her fingernails into the gap in the door and pushed so that there was a small gap in between.

There was no light in the corridor outside. No sounds, either. There was a somewhat stale smell coming from somewhere. It was then she began to sweat and noticed that the air controls were not working. Proof, if ever it was needed. that a person doesn't really notice something until it is gone. Her communicator was offline too. She knelt back down to her toolbox and began rummaging about. She wondered if there was a battery she could use to power the console and get a reading on what was going on.

That was when she heard the growl.

A soft growl from just outside the holodeck door froze Haley's spine. The only person she knew that growled was Degec, but he certainly didn't make a noise like that. Part of her told her to go take a look and investigate the noise. Most of her told her not to. Loose electrical cables made that noise, but none large enough to do so were running though this section. She went to the door for a closer look. She couldn't see anything in the darkness, but she could hear something moving, breathing.

Something big.

A huge force punched against the holodeck door and sent ensign Kepler flying backwards. She hit the ground with a thud and the wind was forced out of her. She kicked a little, as a reflex, and pushed herself up on her elbows. She breathed slowly and tried to remember her tactical training. The room was highly defensible with only the one exit, but without any weapons, she was in a strategically poor position.

Then she remembered the phaser welder in her toolbox. It was fully powered and could cut a person in two, if necessary. She raced back and rooted through the toolbox. This was damn difficult in the dark, she thought. She felt the outline of the phaser welder and stood to, taking aim. She couldn't see, but she could hear well enough. The doors were being pounded. She wondered if they would buckle before the tool in her hand had reached full charge. She didn't know what it was, but the young Ensign wasn't about to take any chances.

"Listen, whatever you are! I've got a fully charged weapon here and I'm not going to hesitate to use it! If you come through that door, I will take that as a hostile sign and open-" A red laser came from the dark and hit Kepler in the chest, knocking her backwards and out for the count. She looked peaceful in her unconscious state, blissfully unaware that the huge physical force being exerted on the door was continuing, and had seconds before collapsing.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aimes sat up when he noticed that it had gone completely dark. He was sure that he had only instructed the lights to dim. "Computer, lights on." There was no response. He picked up his stick and walked to the window, the only source of light coming from the stars. He noticed that even the ship's external lights weren't functioning. Then he recalled that Lujot had informed him that to properly repair the ship, that at the end of all operations, the power would have to be switched off and reset, but he didn't think it would be this soon. His elderly eyes looked out for any sign of the repair crew ships. He figured they must be stationed off the other bow of the ship.

Then he saw one, mightily close to the ship. Almost as if it was docked. It took a moment for his mind to fit the shape into the hole, but it clicked very quickly that what he was looking at was definitely not a support ship.

"Oh Hell!" He shouted, grabbed his hand-held phaser and spun around. Something huge was racing towards him and he instantly discharged the entire power cell of the phaser into his assailant and with a large clunk, the creature fell to the floor. Aimes tapped his badge, but the communicator gave no beep. He felt his way to a nearby drawer and picked out his military-grade torch. He attached it to his phaser and lit up his way to the door, which had been open already, probably as a safety procedure when the power was shut down.

The lights in the hallway were gone too. He immediately made for the nearest weapons locker and grabbed a phaser rifle, before heading for the nearby Jefferies tube. It was only one climb to the bridge.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aria Shelling, Lujot and Teddy Jarvis were in engineering at the time of the power shut down. The only light source was the residual glow from the warp core, which was getting dimmer every minute after it had started charging down.

"What's the matter? I thought your teams weren't supposed to cut power until the end?"

"We were not. Something else has caused the power outage."

"The only realistic thing that could cause a complete power outage like this is if the warp inductors above and below have blown." Jarvis said. "Mister Lujot, I'll need two of your men to take care of the one below. Commander, I'll need your help on the upper level to repair the other."

"I'll see to the lower one myself." Said Lujot, as he snapped his fingers at a nearby associate. The Starfleet officers climbed up expediently. Jarvis felt nervous at not hearing the comforting hum of a warp core, providing a rhythm to his work. The silence was very unnerving, Commander Shelling had to admit. A lot of things had been unnerving in this part of space lately. She knew it came with the job, but had never expected this.

"Will this take long?" She asked.

"No, not too long, just hold this... here." The chief engineer pushed a device into her hands. "With any luck, we'll have everything back online in 30 seconds or so." After a few concentrated moments of staring, Shelling spoke up.

"What do you think of our new Captain?"

"You don't like him, do you?"

"I asked what you think, Lieutenant."

"I think he's alright." Jarvis said, bearing his teeth as he stretched his repair device around the back of a coil. "A bit old for a Captain. I mean, I served under Captain Tudis on my last assignment and he was half of Captain Aimes' age. Then again, I suppose he's still younger than Captain Varik is."

"Was, Lieutenant. We all know he's dead."

"There's no proof that..."

"And there won't be. He was disintegrated in that explosion, much like the rest of that station and its people."

"I'm... I'm sorry, sir. It's just hard to come to terms with, after so long serving under him. I know you and he were..." The commander's expression became one of anger. "... friends." She looked threateningly in his eyes for a moment then looked back to the coil. The light was almost gone now.

"You don't know anything, Lieutenant. You have no idea." The whole of engineering was almost pitch black now. After another moment of silence, there came a call from below.

"We are finished down here, Mister Jarvis, but the problem must be up there." Lujot shouted. Jarvis completed his diagnostic.

"That should be... wait a minute..."

"What is it?"

"A reading of all systems. Engines have been disconnected... Weapons systems removed... nothing's responding, life support and environmental control are outside of our control... every relay has been severed, the sensors have been dismantled... Commander- we're derelict..."

Phaser fire was heard exploding from underneath. Screams flew upward towards the two officers and explosions gave momentary light to the now imperfectly dark room. The two ran over to the edge of the platform and looked down. A small electrical fire illuminated a body of one of the repair crew members being pulled away, by a large, blood red arm, covered in scales.

"Lieutenant." Shelling whispered. "Do you have any weapons up here?"

"Apart from my sidearm, no, nothing." He answered desperately. "What the hell was that?"

A few small growls were heard before a gigantic metallic screech from below heralded upwards. Jarvis was about to get his answer. Several huge masses, visible in the mild illumination were working their way up the walls at a frightening pace. They surrounded the two officers.

"What do we do, sir?" Jarvis felt his stomach imploding. He wanted to vomit. Huge creeping death was heading his way and he had never felt so terrified. Backing into the control console was like backing into a wall full of daggers made of ice, drilling into his back slowly and painfully.

"I don't know, Lieutenant. Be brave." The massive creatures had made their way to the top and now drew their weapons on the two humans, stepping closer, each footfall causing a skipped beat in the hearts of their targets. The lead being let out that bone-breaking metallic shriek one more time before opening fire.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A security officer on Deck 6 came to. He had a huge cramp in the back of his head. Why was he on the ground? He stepped up onto the floor and noticed the lights were off and the door behind him was open. He touched his communicator and spoke: "Crewman Dalton to Lieutenant Commander Greer, the prisoner has escaped, I repeat, the prisoner has escaped... Lieutenant Commander?"

Dalton heard a growl behind him, he switched on his phaser light and held it at the source of the noise. A huge, scaly red creature stood before him. It was around 9 feet tall, and as wide as the corridor. It was hunched to fit in and was wearing a thick grey spacesuit. Its face was particularly long, almost identical to that of an old pterodactyl on Earth, with multiple yellow, pupil-less eyes on the sides of its face. A large shape of metal seemed to be acting as an exoskeletal skull. It was holding a massive circular gun, as large as a person and pointing it directly at the crewman. For a second it lowered its weapon and looked at him curiously.

Crewman Dalton shivered. He accidentally pressed the discharge button on his phaser, hitting the creature in an eye. The monster let out a shriek and killed him in the dark with its massive physique. The crewman stopped screaming when his blood stopped pumping.

**End.**

**Next Chapter: Derelict, Part 2**


	3. Chapter 3: Derelict, Part 2

_Thanks for the reviews, guys. It's really appreciated. I hope they keep coming in. In response to one, there's a reason I haven't detailed the look of the ship properly yet. Stick with me and you'll find out why soon enough. Now, hope I didn't leave you on the edge of that cliff for too long. Here's the conclusion:_

**Chapter 3: Derelict, Part 2**

"Raka. Open your eyes, Raka. Raka. Open your eyes to us. Raka." Lieutenant Degec's first thought was that the Doctor had lied. His headache was worse than it was before. The sort of pain that ran through the middle of your brain as if your lobes were tearing themselves apart, accompanied by the pain of the pressure on the sides of your head as they make their escape.

His eyes opened and he was on a table, covered in a circle of light. The rest of the room was very big, and very dark. He grunted, but no echo came. The officer didn't know if he was inside or outside. This was a very confusing location. He realised someone had been speaking to him. "Open your eyes, Raka. To us, Raka. Open your eyes."

His eyes were already open. There were outlines in the darkness. Hundreds of them. Degec couldn't properly distinguish them, but he could feel them. There was a strong urge for him to stand up.

"Who are you?" He shouted. "Where are you?" He stood up off the table and took a step forward. "What do you want?" A large creature stepped forward from the darkness. Suddenly, thousands of yellow eyes were visible from the dark area. They were identical to that of the creature in plain sight, which had an extremely long head, several pupil-less animal eyes along each side. Its massive, blocky physique was extremely square, and dwarfed even the Lieutenant in size.

"You are like us." The creature extended out its massive arm. Degec eyed it nervously. He had never really felt reason to be scared before. Not even when he used to hunt Flocc beasts back on his planet. But he felt afraid now. There was more than just a primal intimidation at work here, this monster had menace within.

"I am not like you!" He retorted.

"You are not one of us. But you are like us." The creature's hand did not move, still waiting for Degec to take it.

"I want to get back to my ship!" He demanded.

"You are nothing like them. You are like us. You can be one of us."

"No!" Degec did not hesitate. "Take me back to my ship!" The alien let out a metallic shriek and Degec's eyes opened. He was back in his quarters. It was dark, he could tell, but his increased ability to see in the dark The lights were out everywhere – in his room, in the hall, in Snowdrop's compund. He was dehydrated, and his headache was now unbearable as he clutched at his scalp. The big navigator stumbled towards the replicator, ignoring the fact that there was no power, in the base instinct that he could find some what. He slipped and fell, slicing his head open against a drawer. Everything went dark as he slipped into a deep, dreamless sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aimes' tricorder readings were unmistakable. They proved his hunch that the reason the communicators weren't working was not down to a lack of power, but rather someone was jamming communications. The source was indeed on the bridge. He felt violated as he climbed up the Jefferies tube, walking stick stowed on his back, that his own bridge had been invaded. He was going to put a stop to it, whatever the cost.

He reached the end of the tube and came to a door to the bridge. His tricorder also indicated two life signs inside.

He didn't inspect the body of whatever he had phasered in his quarters, he didn't care to see if it was only stunned. Moreover, he felt safer hiding in a tube where something of that size could not fit. But now was the time to be brave. He switched on his light and took the phaser up to eye height. All that was left was to burst through the door. He breathed slowly and readied himself.

The door opened and a massive red fist came through, Aimes had to fall sideways to avoid getting smashed. He discharged his weapon, but the being had a personal shield, which protected it, but also caused it to fly forwards. The Captain ran onto the bridge to allow himself more space to manouever.

The viewscreen was active, throwing up static and illuminating the area a little, but it was a nightmare trying to see in this light. He could best make out his enemy by the ungainly sound it made standing up, just about seeing its black silhouette against the dark grey backgorund. He discharged the phaser again, but the creature was ready. It let out a metallic shriek and drew its weapon from its back, underarm. Aimes' eyes dilated as a shocking red glow from the mouth of the massive weapon charged. There was no dodging whatever was coming out of that.

A war cry.from the being's right was heard by both it and Aimes. The jagged end of a steel beam was slammed into the side of the creature's head, causing it to stagger and misfire, creating widespread damage to the area it hit, ensign Kepler's console. Whatever the second lifeform was that Aimes had detected, he guessed this was it. Several more melee hits were interrupted by the creature's arm, which swung at its assailant, sending him flying into the Captain's chair. As it pursued its new attacker, Aimes hit it with another volley from the phaser, allowing the other person to regain his footing and smack the creature in the side of the face with the long beam. It stumbled, falling on one knee. Another crushing blow to the side of the now bloody head caused major internal damage. The blows repeated until long after the creature had stopped moving, and the Captain had a chance to see who his ally was in the mild light from the static.

"We have a lot to talk about, you and I." Seerv said.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Commander Shelling came to on a deck with low level lighting. In the time of her unconsciousness she figured that some power must have been restored. It took only a few seconds more for her to register that she was not on board the Challenger any more. She was not restrained by her hands or feet. Wherever she was did not have a holding cell. It seemed like she was in some sort of storage room. She pushed herself to her feet and blinked a few times, her pupils dilated and adjusted to the dark illumination. A thump to her left sent her head spinning. A monster was looking at her – one of the monsters from engineering.

She sat down, but the monster did not stop looking. He had been standing guard since they were taken to their present location. Lieutenant Jarvis was beside her, still unconscious. She pushed and nudged him, but he wasn't coming to. She quickly checked to make sure he was still breathing and unhurt. While she couldn't guarantee the latter, the engineer wasn't bleeding, and hoped that all that was keeping him out was that he had received a much larger whack to the head than she had.

Immediately, Shelling began to formulate escape plans. None seemed viable without trying to overpower her guard, which would have been a bad idea for an elephant, let alone a human. A noise came from behind the guard – a low pitched growl, like an electrical cable. Another monster was holding something in his hands. The Vulcan, Lujot, was motionless in his arms, being carried to what looked like a large replicator. His body was placed inside and the creature closed a one-sided glass door, then pressed a series of buttons on a console beside the opening. A silent blue light illuminated the Vulcan's body through the glass, which started dissolving, deatomising, like a transporter - just cutting him up one cell at a time.

The lights on the deck started getting slightly brighter. The more Lujot disintegrated, the brighter the light became. This prison room became a lot more discernable. The walls were an unearthly red, very rough to the touch, like plaster, only more solid. The floor wasn't visible, with some white mist covering it. There didn't appear to be any windows and the only way out was past the 8 foot tall behemoth looking murderously at her.

The device the other creature had operated began beeping furiously, as the last pieces of Lujot's head disappeared. Shelling's heart stopped and her body started sweating profusely. The lights were not getting any brighter and she realised just what they had done to the young Vulcan's body. She heard a shriek.

One of the creatures was pointing at her.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Doctor Bebetos had been following Ensign Kepler and the monster for some time now. The young girl was slowly being dragged somewhere by the creature, who was emitting some sort of light that made him easy to spot, but the doctor didn't care to find out where. He was calculating the best possible avenue of assault before the pair reached their destination. Furthermore, time was against him, as a trail of blood following Haley's body showed that she was in desperate need of medical attention.

Bebetos took his sidearm and stood in the middle of the corridor. He took aim and an arm came around his neck and mouth. He struggled for a moment before hearing someone whispering in his ear.

"It's alright doctor, it's me." Commander Greer whispered, dragged his colleague to the side of the corridor, letting the monster push on a little further.

"Greer. Thank heaven you're alright."

"Heaven and hell had nothing to do with it." The Commander preached. "We can't attack him before he shows us where he's headed. He didn't stow aboard unnoticed. He must have a ship docked somewhere on board and in lieu of internal sensors, our best bet at finding it is by following him."

"But Commander, she's bleeding to death. She needs immediate assistance. She could die long before we reach his ship." Greer shifted uneasily and brought out his new, modernised phaser rifle, which favoured rapid, controlled, pulse fire over single shots, arming it to a high setting.

"Let's hope not. If there's more than one of these monsters, which I would bet my career on there being, then the likelihood is they've taken more of the crew. And if we attack now, then we won't find any of them before they're taken away. We can't let that happen."

"Cathal!" Bebetos put his hand on the Commander's arm. "They might already be dead. She's not! But if we don't do something now, she'll die too. And I won't let that death be on my conscience, knowing that I could have done something." Greer looked to his left as the light the monster was emitting from down the hall was receding with each step. He handed the doctor the other phaser rifle and slung his own.

"You will doctor. That's an order."

The young Lieutenant Commander followed the target down the hall, leaving the doctor distraught for a moment, before he finally snapped back to an alert state, raised his rifle and followed his superior. They followed the being for several more minutes before something unexpected happened – the lights came back on. In alarm, as a result, Bebetos depressed the trigger on his rifle, missing the alien by a small distance. Tbe creature dropped Ensign Kepler and turned around at a slow pace. It slung its weapon and shreiked that terrible sound, charging up its gun and releasing a volley, which blasted a hole into a nearby quarters. Greer guessed the monster was suddenly blinded by the change in lighting. He blasted the being in the hands, scorching them, causing it to drop its weapon, before aiming several concerted bursts at its head. After an alarming shriek, it dashed towards the Commander. Bebetos scythed down the creature at the legs, leaving it in great distress. Greer had no hesitation finishing it off.

Not bothering to query Greer over whether or not killing the beast was an acceptable course of action, the doctor ran over to Haley and examined her. Greer configured his piece. He gave himself a minute to study the alien. This thing was enormous, it barely fit in the corridor, how the hell could it get to multiple decks? Its ship must be on this level, he thought. The suit was made of some extremely strong alloy, there were barely any hints of phaser fire at all in the armour. The creature's head was about 20 inches in legnth, with a long, fleshy, rigid beak that ended in a point. Monochrome yellow eyes which didn't appear to have any lids were carried alongside each part of the head, with several drops of a clear liquid escaping each one. There was no trace of hair at all. These creatures were very reptilian. One thing that interested Greer in particular was the fact that, though intricate, the scales on the monster's hands were almost identical to those of Lieutenant Degec. Bebetos' tricorder snapped shut and Greer looked over.

"Is she stable?" He asked as the doctor put down his phaser rifle and lifted the young Science officer.

"I need to get her to sickbay now, or she'll be dead in minutes." Greer nodded as Bebetos put Kepler over his back and darted in the direction from which he had come. Greer picked up the second rifle as the communicator on his chest rang out and the Captain's voice came through.

"Greer, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, sir. What's the situation?" He coughed.

"Engines, transporters and weapons are offline. Most systems are coming on now, but there are intruders on board."

"I know. I just killed one of them." There was a moment of silence. "Are you alright, sir?"

"Yes, but sensors indicate that several memebers of both our crew and the repair crew have been captured and taken to a ship currently docked on Deck 7, twelve sections up from your position. You're the closest person to that location. You'll have to try and get to them. Backup is on the way."

"What level of resistance do I have to contend with, sir?"

"There are 8 hostiles in that area, Commander. Be vigilant. Help is coming." The communication ended. Greer knew he had been lucky with taking out one creature which was, incidentally, blind at the time. Eight was going to be immeasurably more difficult.

"No problem..." He thought as he raised his rifle and hurtled down the corridor.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The guard stepped towards Shelling and reached out for her. The Commander started kicking and screaming, but the creature's grasp was unbreakable for her. The monstrous beast lifted her and started taking her towards the blue chamber. He placed her inside and closed the door to her screams. The chamber slammed shut and she held her breath, telling herself not to panic. She had a moment. A moment to think, a moment to be calm. She wasn't claustrophibic – a critical condition for anyone wishing to serve on a starship. Nevertheless she panted and hummed like a child going to the dentist for the first time.

The light in the chamber came on. Her feet became extremely hot and began tingling. She felt her skin boiling. Her neck whipped back and she looked directly above her head – loose wiring! And lots of it. She reached up and expediently began ripping away at the wiring, with no glamour or precision. After receiving a deeply painful electric shock, the light in her chamber began flashing like a strobe. She heard a continuous beep like that of a hospital monitor registering no heartbeat and began kicking the door.

The glass gave way and she heard a familiar shriek. Shelling did not wait to find out where it came from and made a run for the prison area, where the guard was no longer standing. She picked up the still-unconscious body of Lieutenant Jarvis over her shoulder and then dashed for the nearest source of light. She saw the two creatures, both roaring around the blue chamber. She guessed that they were more interested in the security and stability of their systems than two escaping prisoners.

On the way to the light, she passed by about a dozen people, some from the repair crews, most from engineering. There was another creature guarding all them. Shrieking at the sight of the two fleeing officers, it aimed its gun and charged it up. Aria Shelling held her breath and closed her eyes. The monster was distracted by an explosion and screaming from outside, on the deck of Challenger. It ran to the source of the sound and the Commander blessed her luck. She passed Jarvis to Crewman Benin and hissed a 'move out' order to all the prisoners, telling them not to engage the creature, even with its back turned.

She needn't have. The monster was felled by a cutting phaser blast to the forehead. As she reached the deck, the light saturation from the different illumination made her pause. Quickly enough, her vision came flooding back to her. They were on the recreational area, a two-level space on the ship, which didn't have a docking port. The alien ship had simply cut through the hull and a force field was holding in the atmosphere. Three creatures were charging their weapons at Lieutenant Commander Greer, who was taking cover on the balcony level above, firing intermittent shots and moving position as rapidly as safety dictated.

"Run, Commander! Get to section 8! The weapons locker is open!" He threw his spare rifle at his superior and she gladly made use of it. Greer laid down supressing fire as the crews made their way down the deck. To the Commander's horror, three Starfleet officers were gunned down by one of the creatures. Their bodies were left limp and lifeless on the floor. She double-timed it to the weapons locker.

Greer was in trouble. His phaser rifle was seriously low on power. He had used quite a lot of it on supression and the monsters took one hell of a pounding before going down. He turned to fire his last few shots, electing not to conserve them and, to his surprise, saw the creatures leaving, dragging the bodies of the dead Starfleet crew with them. The hatch on the alien vessel closed tight and pressurised. Shelling returned with several armed in support, but the ship had detached and escaped. She threw an appreciative glance up at the Lieutenant Commander before looking down at her feet. Something felt a bit odd.

She realised she was missing two toes on her left foot. "Fancy that." She thought, and collapsed backwards.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aimes wrestled with his datapad. He was writing up his report, but was short of details. He was waiting on several smaller reports himself, before he could submit his own. He had already spoken to the doctor, who informed him everyone was in good health. Jarvis had suffered a heavy concussion, but had recovered and was in the process of finishing repairs to the engines at the moment. Ensign Kepler had taken heavy internal injury, but was stable. She would be off duty for a few days on doctor's orders but was on the way to recovery. Though Aimes was more worried about the psychological impact this whole event had had on the crew, partiularly on Degec. If his telepathic connection to these aliens had affected him to the extent that he had described, was it a good idea to let him continue on duty, at least for the time being? The door buzzed.

"Enter."

The door to the Captain's ready room. opened and Brigadier Seerv walked in. With the help of Seerv and his knowledge of the enemy, the Captain had been able to bring systems back on line. The aliens had only tapped into the internal sensor grid and created the illusion that all systems were offline, when in reality they had only cut the power to engines, weapons and transporters.

"Captain." Seerv nodded respectfully.

"We're going to take you back across the Burren. You've suffered enough hardship on Challenger and besides, it's the least I can do after you helped save so many of my crew."

"Thank you Captain. That's very kind of you."

"But I do wish to ask you a few questions about the report you gave me on our attackers."

"The Clandestine." Seerv clipped in. His report had stated that these aliens must have come from a shuttle which escaped when Challenger blew up their ship after the encounter at the Stardock. It followed them and docked with them at the same time as the repair crews, giving them a window to hack into the Federation starship's systems.

"Yes, the Clandestine." Aimes acknowledged. He tapped his fingers on his desk. "I need to know why they boarded us."

"Fuel." The liquid entity answered. The Captain's spine tingled. He had read Shelling's disturbing report. The very thought of breaking down bodies, dead or alive, and using them as a power source seemed cruel, dishonorable and, worryingly, efficient, logical and scientific to him. He wondered at the cost these creatures had sold their soul for.

"No other reason? Not an attempt at espionage?"

"Their ship was a glorified escape pod, nothing more. They weren't equipped for any sort of mission. They lost three members of their crew on board the ship and took five of yours. There was no tactical advantage to be gained by controlling your ship, and they wouldn't have had the resources on board to cause it to self-destruct." Aimes thoughts strayed back to the doctor for a moment, who was currently performing autopsies on the three dead Clandestine soldiers, the one from the bridge and two whom Greer had slain. The one in his quarters had disappeared, presumably it had woken up and marched out. Thank God, he thought. "They were just trying to get home."

"Will they come back?"

"Immediately? Who can say?" Seerv paced about the ready room, looking out the window at the stars. "I don't know how... much material-" Aimes knew he didn't want to refer to the bodies as bodies or fuel again. "-it takes to power their ship. In the long term, yes, they'll be back. For this ship in particular." Aimes swivelled in his chair. He had one final question to ask.

"Could they be responsible for the explosion on Starbase 4-3?"

"I thought you had ascertained that it was someone..." Seerv wasn't answering the question.

"Could they be responsible?" Seerv heistated before answering.

"No. It's not their style. The Clandestine keep to themselves, but when challenged do not do things by halves. They are not underhanded and do not plant bombs." Aimes dwelled on this for a moment before nodding.

"Thank you, Brigadier. You've been most helpful. We'll bring you home as soon as our engines get us underway."

"Thank you, Captain." He hesitated, as his soft electronic voice composed itself. "Captain, I expect that you'll be punishing your officer Greer for his... behaviour? To the full extent of your laws?"

"Lieutenant Commander Greer will be dealt with accordingly." Aimes responded instantly. Seerv turned and left the room. A few moments later, Commander Shelling came in. She stood tall and authoritative, as ever. Aimes was already used to this stance of hers.

"Captain."

"Good evening, Commander. How's the foot?"

"Working." It was uncomfortable, but Shelling was not about to let her incident prevent her from performing her duty. She still had two arms and two legs. The doctor had given her prosthetic toes, which she was still getting used to. She missed the ability to wiggle her toes, which she felt was strange, because she never took any pleasure in doing it before, but again, it was one of the things you don't miss until it is gone.

"I read your report and I'm very impressed." Everything had been corroboratted by other members of the crew. Not that he was doubting his first officer, but some of the things that happened to her otherwise seemed unbelieveable. Aria Shelling was not a woman who lied easily. "But there is something else I have to ask you. Something not in the report."

"Anything, Captain?"

"The Lieutenant Commander did something heroic today. He also did something terrible, which you may or may not know about." Aimes waited to see if there was any reaction from Shelling. The woman was steady as a rock. "He used various methods of torture on a prisoner. A prisoner who was undeserved of such treatment, as any living soul would be. He violated basic rights and contravented several fundamental Starfleet and Federation axioms in doing so. He could lose his career. Be thrown in prison for a long time for what he did. A very long time."

Again, the Captain paused, almost waiting for Shelling to confess something to him. "The trouble I'm having, and the reason I haven't had him courtmartialed already..." He took a slow breath. "is that I know his type. Greer is a man who takes orders from above without question and not a man who is prone to violent and monstrous outbursts, like what he did to Brigadier Seerv."

"Regardless of whether or not Seerv is responsible for the destruction of Starbase 4-3, sir?"

"Regardless." Aimes replied, bluntly. "He would have had to take an order from above to do what he did. I had already agreed to let Seerv go, and our long range communications have been down since I came aboard, which means that Starfleet Command, nor anybody else could have given him that order... except for you." Remarkable, he thought. Still no motion. Shelling was still not moved, even by what Aimes was suggesting. Every Captain needs to instil a little fear into his or her crew, no matter what rank they held. Right now Aimes was wondering if the Commander feared anything at all. Aimes stood and leaned forward on the desk with both hands."Commander, did you give Lieutenant Commander Greer an order, behind my back, to interrogate Brigadier Seerv?"

Shelling's mind was racing, though her expression didn't show it. She had trained herself to give nothing away in any situation. It made her a good poker player, at the very least. And right now, the elderly, but intimidating Captain was calling her bluff. She knew the value of her answer. It would cost either her or Greer their job, their career, their lives. She was feeling shame, guilt and regret, but she refused to let any of it show on her face. It had been twenty seconds since the Captain had asked the question. He wasn't going to ask it again. Shelling decided to tell the truth.

"No, sir. I did not give any such order." Aimes kept staring at her intently. Still looking for any sign of a lie, any tell. He stood straight and put his arms behind his back.

"Thank you, Commander. Dismissed."

"Sir, for what it's worth, Lieutenant Commander Greer saved a lot of lives today. He's saved a lot of lives on board this ship before. I wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for his actions."

"And he wouldn't have been there to save you if it wasn't for Seerv restoring power and saving my life. Think about that." The Commander looked sad and remorseful. She morosely took herself out of the ready room and marched to her quarters for some much needed rest.

Aimes sat down again. He picked up his walking stick and span it under his finger, looking at the handle. It was brown and labelled 'made in Luna', his home, the first city on the moon. He had had the stick for thirteen years now. It had never failed him, never broken, never slipped. He remembered the first time that a doctor showed it to him. Aimes doubted the stability of the crooked-looking support. So unsteady did it look that his friends had taken bets on how long before it caused him to end up on his behind. His friends were so far away now. Thirteen years and it had never broken. His thoughts were interrupted by the door buzzer.

"Enter."

Lieutenant Commander Greer stepped in with an attentive stance. The Captain sat back in his chair and looked straight into the man with the young orderly face. "Do you know what you've done?" Aimes posed the question. "Torturing a living being the same week as we make first contact. Have you ever even heard of the prime directive?" The Captain looked at his subordinate. "I asked you a question, officer."

"My apologies, sir. I thought it was rhetorical, sir."

"Don't get smart with me." Aimes became very furious, very quickly. "You're going to be courtmartialled. You're going to get kicked out of the stars and sent to the the depths of whatever hellhole of a prsion Starfleet security thinks you'll feel most vulnerable in." His finger was right up in Greer's face now. "They're going to massacre you and for what? What in God's name were you thinking? Why would you throw your Starfleet career away? You're going to spend the rest of your life wondering why you did what you did!"

"Sir, I don't think so, sir." Greer interjected.

"And why is that?"

"Because Seerv is lieing, sir."

"You tortured him, Greer, we know for-"

"I'm not talking about the torture, sir. Seerv knew all along who blew up Starbase 4-3."

Aimes stopped breathing. This changed a lot of things. Hell, this changed everything. He started breathing again and simply mouthed 'what?'.

"And I can prove it." He exclaimed.

"Who?"

"There's a lot behind it, sir. And this is not a first contact situation with a new species either." The Commander produced a datapad. "Seerv has lied to you about everything." Aimes rushed through the information contained in the pad. "Everything you need to know is in that pad. Including how I can prove it, but we need time." Aimes studied the pad for so long, he lost track of time. Greer shook him out of it. "Sir?" The Captain looked up. "Shall I report to the brig? Or will I see you at the bar for a drink later?" Aimes straightened up.

"See you at 2300." Greer smiled, nodded and slipped out the door, leaving the Captain wondering if he'd been looking at a small piece of a larger puzzle.

**End.**

**Next Chapter: Across The Burren**


	4. Chapter 4: Across The Burren

_Thanks again everybody for all your reviews. They're deeply appreciated. Thank you. Sorry for keeping you waiting so long too. Here's the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it!_

**Chapter 4: Across The Burren**

Petty Officer Cotso gulped as he sat in the solitary chair in the darkened room. The fresh-faced, tubby, young Bolian had never done anything important before. He was always at the back of the class, or the last to be picked for the team. His condition may ultimately have been the reason for this, but even though he had waited all his life to be part of something big, as the unbreakable gazes of Captain Noah Aimes, Commander Aria Shelling and Lieutenant Commander Cathal Greer stared him down from behind a long, steel desk, he never would have guessed that it would be something like this.

"This begins the formal review of the events of the past 36 hours on board the Federation Starship Challenger, registration number NCC-2302, Captain Noah Aimes heading panel with officers Aria Shelling and Cathal Greer examining Petty Officer Cotso, who is implicit in all incidents, computer commencing recording." The archaic Captain Aimes slouched back in his seat and his officers stood up. The room was uncomfortably cold and yet Cotso could feel the sweat burning down his forehead. He waited almost a minute for Captain Aimes to speak again. "Petty Officer Cotso, you are suspected of being fully consenting in complicity to genocide. Of theft of restricted Federation property. Of sabotage of stolen restricted Federation property. Of perverting the course of justice. And four charges of murder in the first degree." Aimes scratched his chin. "We'd like to hear your version of the story."

Petty Officer Cotso gulped.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_36 hours earlier..._

Aimes sat in the Captain's yacht. Things were very confusing at the moment. He had been brooding over what Greer had shown him about Seerv. He didn't like it one bit. He loaded up his recorder.

"Captain's Log, Stardate 107344.2. With the help of Brigadier Seerv, we have entered The Burren, a spatial phenomenon which restricts warp travel to such an extent that traversing it would normally take two months. Using Seerv's new technique, we will get to the other side in less than two days. I don't know whether to trust him or not. I don't know who to trust at the moment. The fact remains that after Greer's actions, I have no choice but to let him go. And we must track down and assess the overall combat threat of the Clandestine. If one ship can cause so much destruction and chaos on its own, we have a duty to gather as much information as possible to prepare the Alpha quadrant for another attack. Or worse: invasion. I can only hope that a peaceful solution is eventually the one we come to."

The Captain was interrupted by his comm device. Ensign Kepler's voice was on the other end.

"Captain, please report to the bridge, we've detected a vessel." Aimes was sharp in step and emerged on the bridge a few seconds later. The bridge was fully crewed.

"Report."

"We've detected a signal from 50,000 kilometres off the port bow, sir. Transponder codes are unmistakable. It's Starfleet." Ensign Kepler said

"I thought Starfleet vessels were not allowed to enter The Burren?" Captain Aimes asked.

"Further telemetry suggests that it's an escape pod, sir. It's registered to... Starbase 4-3!" There was a moment of silence as the crew took in this information. A beep on Haley Kepler's console snapped her back to attention. "And reading two life signs inside. Life support on board reading as critical."

"Bring them aboard. Beam them straight to medical. Alert the doctor to engage a quarantine." Aimes said as he stumbled off towards the turbolift.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_35 hours ago..._

Aimes looked at two enlisted officers in front of him. Chief Petty Officer Joseph MacGill and Petty Officer Cotso. Both appearing in fine health. The Captain took the Doctor aside and asked for his report.

"Well sir, there's nothing wrong with either of them physically. They may need therapy to remedy being trapped in an escape pod for so long, but other than that, I can't keep them here." The Captain walked up to Chief MacGill and shook his hand.

"I'm Captain Noah Aimes. You're on board the Starship Challenger. I can't tell you how happy I am to see you men alive. The crew is going to be ecstatic."

"Thank you, sir." Chief MacGill said as he shook the older man's hand. "Not as ecstatic as we are that you found us. Our escape pod drifted off in the entirely wrong direction, we were never meant to go into The Burren."

"Neither were we. But it looks like it's your lucky day. Good to have you on board, Chief." Aimes then turned his attention to Petty Officer Cotso. "And you, PO. Welcome aboard."

"Captain Aimes. Noah. Age: 71. Starfleet career spanning over 45 years. Undistinguished. Captained four vessels prior to assignment on Starbase 4-3. Hair colour: white. Eye colour: brown. Height 5'7". Weight: unknown." Aimes withdrew his hand and turned back to the doctor

"Is there anything else I should know, Doctor?" Aimes put a particular angry emphasis on his physician's title.

"Young Cotso here is slightly brain-damaged sir. Not from any recent trauma, but from birth. He isn't a normal case though sir. He is what is... what was traditionally known back on Earth as an idiot savant."

"A savant?"

"Yes sir, although he exerts some Bolian aspects of the condition. He is more lucid than most with the condition. More mature. But at other times, it can be like talking to a two-year old. He has almost total memory retention and as far as I'm aware, he cannot lie."

"That seems a bit far fetched, Doctor." Bebetos smiled and turned back to his patient.

"Cotso." Bebetos grinned. "How old are you exactly?"

"22 years, 3 months, 14 days, 8 minutes and 49 seconds." The man said with a glazed-over look on his face.

"What's your favourite sport?"

"Freeball."

"Have you ever been to a game?"

"Yes."

"What was the first game you were at and what was the score?"

"Sira verses New Cromshire; 181 : 177."

"What was the crowd attendance?"

"533,497."

"What was the temperature?"

"301 Kelvins."

"Name the New Cromshire team members that DIDN'T play that day in reverse alphabetical order."

"Ranklin, Florin, Eeteer, Basnovic and Banver."

"Are you still a virgin?"

"Yes." The Captain was impressed.

"Hey now!" MacGill interjected. You can't be asking personal questions like that! Cotso, you don't answer any questions like that no more, you hear? Now that's an order!"

"Aye aye, sir." The Bolian responded.

"I'm sorry Captain, but there's no dignity in taking advantage of a young, simple boy like that."

"Quite right. And my apologies, but I wouldn't call him simple, Chief. Because of his uncanny abilities, it's quite possible that Cotso holds more knowledge than the three of us combined."

"But he can't think for himself, Doc. He ain't got no creative thought process. You have to show him everything, but the boy can't make a decision for himself. Makes him a liability in a combat situation. 'S why he never got into the proper ranks in Starfleet."

"Why did he join?"

"It was his dream, you know? Name me a boy or girl in this galaxy whose dream it isn't to join Starfleet."

They couldn't.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_30 hours earlier..._

Captain Aimes had given the two men leave to explore the ship as they pleased. For the moment, they were now part of the crew of Challenger. Cotso had walked all around the three decks above sickbay, getting smiles from everyone as he walked by. He was an icon of hope. If he and Chief MacGill had survived, then there was still hope that there might be more survivors from the tragedy.

Cotso walked into the mess hall and immediately, crewmen started applauding him. He panicked for a moment, as he didn't know what to do. He didn't fully comprehend, that he was almost a hero in their eyes. He smiled. Lieutenant Teddy Jarvis, put his arm around him and gave him a shake.

"Welcome on board the USS Challenger, mate! Won't you have a seat with us?" Teddy Jarvis brought the young crewman to a table where Ensign Kepler was sitting. "Look Haley, I brought us a friend." The three officers began talking for a while. After a few minutes, Ensign Kepler stood up to go get a drink. "She's really something, isn't she?" Teddy smiled affectionately, looking after the young woman as she joined a queue for the replicator.

"She is very pretty." Cotso offered.

"Pretty? Cotso, she's gorgeous! Don't you think she's attractive?"

"I... only like Bolian girls."

"Well I suppose that makes sense." The engineer took a drink, not breaking his stare. "I'm gonna ask her out."

The second the words came out of his mouth, Lieutenant Commander Greer entered the mess hall and joined the queue. He tapped Haley on the shoulder and they began to talk. Teddy Jarvis grimaced when she started smiling.

"Who is that man?"

"That's the Lieutenant Commander." Teddy's left cheek twitched. "His name is Greer."

"My father was a Lieutenant Commander. He's the reason I wanted to fly in between the stars." The Lieutenant didn't answer back, clearly distracted by the two people in the queue. After a moment, Haley pointed to where they were sitting and Greer sat down at the table.

"Good morning, Teddy. And you, sir, must be one of our very welcome guests?" The Irishman asked.

"You took that girl's communicator right off her chest." Cotso revealed. There was a moment's pause as all three men warily looked at one another. "She didn't even notice."

"That's right, I did."

"Stealing is wrong." He said again. At that moment, Haley Kepler came back over to the table.

"I'm sorry guys, I didn't realise what time it is. I have to be going back on duty. I'll see you all later." She turned and began to walk, when she was called back.

"Ensign Kepler!" Greer held the girl's communicator above his head. "Aren't you forgetting something?"

She briefly checked the spot where it should be and then ran back over.

"Oh my- thank you! I don't know how I... I'd have gotten in so much trouble! Thank you so much!"

"We won't worry about it. Go on, off to your station." She gratefully grabbed the device and smiled on her way out of the mess hall. Greer sat back in his seat and turned to the young Bolian. "You see, my friend: out here, in this place, two wrongs most definitely make a right. Isn't that true, Teddy?"

Teddy didn't answer and took a large gulp out of his coffee.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Present._

"We're getting nowhere fast, here." Shelling said angrily as she got to her feet. "That part of the story is pointless. You haven't told us anything so far, nothing on relevant events, or even on whether you are innocent or not." She walked over to the chair where Cotso sat and leaned forward.

"Commander, because of the nature of this man's mind, I believe that the story must come out of his head altogether in one flowing memory, rather than piece by piece." Aimes suggested.

"He's playing for time. And wasting ours. Maybe his Clandestine friends are on the way." She hissed. "We don't even know if he's telling the truth."

"We know that he's telling the truth..."

"People can learn to lie!" She growled at the young man. "It's the easiest thing in the world. Stop wasting our time!"

"Commander, until I deem it otherwise, we have all the time in the world to listen to Petty Officer Cotso's story, is that clear?" The Commander rose up from her intimidating position. She took slow steps back to the desk of her colleagues.

"Perfectly." She said sweetly as she sat down.

"Thank you, Commander. And I sympathise, your concerns are not unfounded and I would also like to proceed as quickly as possible. Petty Officer, why don't you skip ahead to the part about Seerv?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_28 hours ago_

Greer was giving Cotso a tour of the ship. They were entering engineering as Greer complained over and over about how the whole ship needed a refit. Inside, half the engineers were working on keeping the warp core in one piece. The other half were working on the 'digging' technique that was getting them through the Burren and giving some intense turbulence at certain times.

It was among the latter that Cotso saw Seerv.

"Hello Brigadier!" He shouted cheerfully. Greer and Seerv stared at each other. Last time the two men had faced off, Greer was the one to worry about the consequences. Now it was Seerv's turn. The Lieutenant Commander grabbed Cotso by the shoulder and pulled him outside the doors of engineering.

"How the hell do you know that man?"

"He is my friend and my driver." The Bolian announced, oblivious to the ramifications of what he was saying.

"No, how did you meet him? Where?"

"I met him on Starbase 4-3. He was meant to drive us after..." Seerv burst through the doors of engineering. He had a lit phaser welder in his right hand. His gazed, fully fixed on the overweight Bolian in front of him.

"Lieutenant Commander, if I may have a word with the boy. Alone." Greer's first thought was that Seerv's voice had become incredibly scary. His second thoughts were to what to do should that phaser welder come in contact with any part of his anatomy. His third thoughts were about protecting Cotso.

"I can't do that, Seerv."

"The boy has mistaken my identity. Clearly through trauma from his ordeal. I just want to... straighten things out."

"You can straighten them out with me, here." Greer stood tall. The phaser welder crackled and he jumped slightly. Seerv didn't notice. He was gunning for Cotso. The liquid placed a hand on the wall beside Cotso's head.

"Do you know me?" Cotso shook his head from left to right, clearly scared. "Did you get my name from Starbase 4-3, or a manifest of this ship?"

"M-m-mani-..."

"Do you think I would HURT you?" The phaser welder crackled loudly. Cotso nodded his head up and down vigorously.

"Well I wouldn't." Seerv turned the welder off. "I'm not a monster. I don't lower myself to torture." He turned around and headed back into engineering. "Good day, Commander."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Present_

"So you CAN lie!" Shelling accused. "Either you knew about Seerv, or you didn't. Which is it?"

"I... was... mistaken..."

"I don't believe you!"

"She's right, Cotso." Greer said. "Drop it. Seerv was never on any manifest, either here, or on Starbase 4-3." He placed a datapad on the desk.

"I... can... be ordered to mislead..." He stumbled

"And what were you ordered to mislead us about?" There was silence. The engineer didn't answer. "Who gave you the orders? MacGill? Like he gave you the order in the sickbay?"

"I want you to tell us about MacGill. And why he tried to blow up Challenger." Aimes demanded.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_18 hours ago..._

MacGill had taken Cotso aside when he had the first chance to. Everyone was so enamoured with the two new staff, that they were showing them endless tours, inviting them to spend holodeck time together, offering every sort of comfort possible, that there was no chance to be alone until now. They found a secluded area in cargo bay 1. MacGill was busy taking a camera offline when Cotso reached the storage area.

"Cotso!" MacGill spoke in a hushed tone. "Over here." Cotso hobbled over to the bottom of a ladder as MacGill climbed down. "Listen, buddy, there's not much time. We've got to get offa this ship. They're on to us. I spoke to their chief engineer. He saw something on the record from our escape pod; something that could hurt us. Something that could get us in trouble. You don't want us to get in trouble, now, do ya?"

Cotso shook his head from side to side.

"Right, well to save ourselves, we've gotta get a photon torpedo, ok? You read me?"

Cotso nodded.

"Good. Now we've got to climb down through a load of Jefferies tubes to get to the weapons bay unnoticed. When we get there, they're not gonna let us take it, so we've got to hit 'em hard." MacGill handed Cotso a phaser, but he took three steps back. "Cotty, I know you don't like guns, but we need to do this or we're gonna get in trouble. And you're Dad's gonna be mad at me if I let you get in trouble. You don't want that, do ya?" Cotso hesitated for a moment, then took slow steps towards the gun. He picked the lowest setting and held it by his side.

"Now you've gotta promise me, that if someone points a gun at you, even someone you like, you've got to pull that trigger. Don't hesitate, don't even think, don't even breathe. Promise me."

Cotso nodded.

"Good boy." MacGill smiled. He put his hand on Cotso's shoulder. "We'll get out of this yet, don't you worry. Come on, this way." MacGill had opened the Jefferies tube to the deck below. The two men climbed inside and started their descent.

"Did you hurt him?"

"Hurt who?" MacGill asked.

"Chief Engineer Teddy Jarvis. He was nice to me. He is my friend." Cotso's sympathetic voice sounded pathetic to MacGill, but the man obviously treated his compatriot with a bit more compassion than his thoughts suggested.

"I dunno, Cotty. I hit him pretty hard on the head with a wrench. He was bleeding when I left him. I don't know if he made it." The two men were silent until they reached the torpedo bay.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Present_

"Teddy is alright." Greer said. "The Doctor healed up that nasty head injury, but there was no lasting damage. He was close to bleeding out, but got help in good time. Skull's gonna be ringing for a while though."

"Who found him?" Aimes enquired.

"Actually, it was Seerv who found him. He needed Teddy's input for adjustments to the 'Dig' program." Greer coughed. "Which makes it all the harder to nail him. When the time comes... What did Teddy find in the escape pod's databanks?"

"He found that the escape pod was jettisoned a full six minutes before the explosion went off."

The trio looked at Cotso again.

"So tell us exactly what happened in Weps."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_17 hours ago_

Cotso and MacGill emerged silently from the concealed Jefferies tube. Cotso spotted the torpedo storage area and MacGill had no hesitation in grabbing his phaser and eliminating the three guards. He ran to the torpedo and wedged open the lid.

"Come here Cotso. I need you to help me program this thing." Cotso stared around at the three dropped security men. He touched one of them. He was cold, not breathing.

"You... killed... them?"

"Starfleet security men are tough as hell, Cotso. A stun might not keep them down. I had to make sure they weren't getting up again."

"You didn't need to-..."

"COTTY! If all goes to plan, they're all going to die anyway!" MacGill snapped. "They're trying to hurt us, son! They're trying to make us the bad guys. And we're not. You're not. Now, come over here and help me fix this damned torpedo!"

The PO did as ordered. They set the torpedo countdown timer for 30 minutes. MacGill sealed the doors to the weapons bay. The charge from the photon torpedo would set off the other warheads, causing a chain reaction, that would destroy the entire ship from the inside out.

"Come on! We're all done, now let's get the hell out of here."

The two men proceeded to the shuttle bay, but arrived later than expected. An exploded conduit that had yet to be repaired by the engineering staff had blocked their primary route, forcing them to go another way. They arrived in the shuttle bay with 2 minutes to go until the explosion.

"It's gonna be close, but we're gonna make it buddy! All we've gotta do it get those doors open and get out of here. Go tag that panel over there. I'll prime the shuttle." MacGill got into the shuttlecraft and Cotso sauntered up to the nearby console, placed just to the left of the cockpit. He was taking him time. "Come on, son! There's not much time. We've got about 30 seconds before this place goes boom!" Cotso stared up sadly at his Chief.

"The ship isn't going to explode, sir." MacGill felt like his heart had stopped beating.

"What did you say?"

"I said it's not going to explode, sir. In 30 seconds, the torpedo will deactivate. The doors to the shuttle bay have been locked, so we can't get out. And security has been informed of your situation." MacGill reached for his sidearm, but found it wasn't there. His gaze shot back to Cotso. "I learned how to take things without people noticing them on this ship."

"Cotty, why are you doing this? I'm your friend."

"You say we're not the bad guys, Chief, but you killed three innocent men. Teddy Jarvis might be dead. You tried to kill everyone on this ship. And what about Starbase 4-3? Is everyone there dead because of us? I hope not. We're not the good guys, Chief. Not anymore."

At that moment, several armed security came through the shuttle bay doors. Chief MacGill smacked his head backwards against his seat and began crying.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Present_

"And just what did you do on Starbase 4-3, officer?" Shelling asked.

"We were made to transport a heavy-industrial grade security container ourselves. I do not know what was in it. I only know we were to place it in the station commander's office." Aimes took a deep breath. That corroborated clearly with what Teddy Jarvis had told him after the analysis of the base's debris. He was staring at one of the men directly involved in the explosion, though it was clear he was oblivious to whatever was inside the box. Cotso was about as innocent as a guilty man could get. Aimes cleared his throat.

"Mr Cotso, if your testimony is honest, which I believe it is. Then, when you are to appear in front of the Federation High court, it is this panel's opinion that you will be absolved of the following charges: Full consenting complicity to genocide. Theft of restricted Federation property. Sabotage of stolen restricted Federation property. Perverting the course of justice. And three charges of murder in the first degree."

For the first time since he had entered the room that day, Petty Officer Cotso smiled.

"However." Aimes interrupted the young man's joy. "Perhaps you'd like to tell us why you murdered Chief Petty Officer MacGill."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_7 hours ago_

MacGill was being kept under lock down in his quarters. He paced up and down in his 'cell', panicking and trying to figure out any possible way to escape. If only he could get through his door. Challenger was too short-staffed to have a guard outside his door at all times. His replicator had been deactivated. Any utensils were off limits. He still didn't give up hope. The door to his quarters opened. Cotso stepped inside. Before MacGill could speak, Cotso stood in front of him.

"I escaped."

"That much I can see. How?"

"I pushed every combination on the lock until I got the right one." MacGill stood dumbfounded.

"You're kidding me." The Chief smirked. He looked at the simple, almost confused look on Cotso's face. "You're really not kidding me, are you?" Cotso shook his head. "Hell... that's fantastic! Come on, let's get out of here before anyone..."

"No!" Cotso said. "That's not why I'm here." He took circular steps around his Chief. "Every single thing you've done is wrong. Since we went to Starbase 4-3, things have been wrong. There was something bad in that box and a lot of people died. That was wrong. We didn't tell the Captain the whole truth. That was wrong, too. You killed three men and planned to kill everyone else on board this ship. That was wrong too. And you hurt my friend. That was wrong."

"Why did you come here if you didn't plan to get me out? To bitch at me about morals? To tell me the difference between good and evil? You don't see the bigger picture, Cotso! Your brain doesn't work that way! Yes, there was a bomb inside that container! I know things didn't go to plan when we were meant to escape with the Velocins and Boss, but we would have made it! And yes, we've done a lot of bad things, but we're doing all these for a good reason! For a good purpose! And you'll never know why until it happens, but you have got- to trust me." MacGill gave a sympathetic look to his colleague. "Why _did_ you come here?"

In one swift move, Cotso withdrew a knife and shoved it deep into MacGill's chest, cutting his heart in two. The older man gasped for breath, as his body started leaning on the Bolian's.

"Everything you've done is wrong. But out here, in space, two wrongs make a right." He withdrew the knife from the Chief's chest and started crying. "I hope what I've done is right. And I hope you'll understand. I hope you'll forgive me."

Chief MacGill dropped to the floor, clutching at his ribs, squirming and kicking his legs for a few minutes, before death took hold of him. Cotso sat down at the nearby table and stared at the body of his friend until he was discovered by security.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Present_

The panel room was silent. There was a harsh tension in the air. No one really wanted to speak. Aimes took the leap.

"Who is the boss that MacGill spoke of?"

"I..." Cotso hesitated. "Chief MacGill ordered me never to say his name ever."

"But you've disobeyed MacGill already. You let him get caught. You let yourself get caught. Why not tell us?" Cotso became teary-eyed. He looked like he was in pain.

"Because we were friends. He asked me a long time ago... as a friend... to keep that one promise. If we ever got caught, we'd keep that one promise. And that way we'd be friends forever." Cotso's words reverberated around the room. There was another moment of dirty silence as the three members of the panel thought deeply.

"It is the finding of this review that upon Challenger's return to Federation territory, it is necessary to send Petty Officer Cotso before the Federation High Court on the charge of first degree pre-meditated murder of a superior officer." Aimes stood and Commanders Shelling and Greer stood with him. "Until such a time, you will remain under tight guard in your quarters... Without a keypad inside the door." Two security officers stepped into the room and took each of Cotso's shoulders. They marched him out of the room and down to the turbolift. Everyone let out a large breath.

"They're going to crucify him, you know." Greer said. "Back at Starfleet. He's already told us everything and yet we've got next to nothing. They'll want a scapegoat for Starbase 4-3 and he's a lot more juicy a target than a bunch of aliens who didn't exist until last week."

"They're right to." Shelling said. "He's guilty of an awful lot more than just murder. I'd crucify him myself for what he did to this ship... For what he did to this Federation. It's been over 30 years since a murder of one Starfleet officer by another has taken place on board a starship "

"The law is not in our hands." Aimes declared. "It hangs over us as something we must abide by, whatever the cost." He looked at Shelling. "Whatever our feelings on the matter." He then looked at Greer. "Or however our actions influenced proceedings. We're Starfleet officers. In a strange way, we owe our lives to that man. But he also could have murdered all of us and not thought it wrong." Aimes took up his walking stick. "All we can do is hope justice prevails in the dark. This review session is now closed."The three of them walked off towards the door, and the lights in the room turned off automatically as they left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

2 hours later.

Captain Aimes walked into the sickbay. The doctor was at hand and stood to attention.

"How did it happen?" The Captain asked.

"Bled through due to a laceration below the Adam's Apple. He lived for about five minutes before brain death. We found the knife. Taken from the mess hall."

Captain Noah Aimes looked down at the peaceful body of Petty Officer Cotso. He didn't know whether or not he was the criminal or the victim. There was going to be a lot of blood spilt back at Starfleet over what had happened here. Command were going to be looking for a new scapegoat. The importance of finding 'Boss' had now become ever more clear to him.

"Any indication of who might have done it at all? Any evidence in his quarters?" The doctor nodded in response.

"I've sent a security crew up to crewman Jellitt's quarters right now."

'Crewman Jellitt.' thought Aimes. She had a brother on Starbase 4-3. The crew had not taken long to figure out what had happened after the events in the weapons bay. Aimes realised this ship needed more than just a refit of equipment.

"Security are going to bring her directly here for corroborating DNA evidence. Do you want to perform the interrogation, sir?"

"No." Aimes said, absent-mindedly. "No, I'll contact Commander Shelling. She will carry out the investigation. I need some sleep." Aimes started walking towards the door of sickbay.

"Sir?" The doctor called after him. "I found traces of siriptu in Cotso's blood, sir."

"Poison?" Aimes was a little shocked, he must admit.

"Yes, sir. A peaceful drug. The victim would have drifted off into a soothing sleep, then died shortly after. Blood analysis shows that it was about 20 minutes from coagulating."

"Why would anyone give someone a peaceful poison, then murder them so violently?"

"You've got me, sir." The doctor shrugged. "Good night, Captain."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Aimes walked into the bar. Again, only Greer and the robotic bartender were in position. Aimes sat down beside him and ordered a brandy.

"Feeling alright, commander?" He noticed the third-in-command's eyes were rather red.

"Yes. Just need a little sleep."

"Well I can understand that. Is everything in place for Seerv?"

"Everything will go according to plan. Seerv will crack. We'll get our man. And justice will be served."

"Justice." Aimes harrumphed. "You know Cotso is dead."

"I figured something like that might happen." Greer took a drink and kept talking. "A lot of people were going to be angry after they found out what really happened."

"You didn't want him to go back to Starfleet either, Commander. Albeit for different reasons." Greer coughed and then laughed.

"The last thing I need is for my Captain to be accusing me of murder." He finished his drink. This one was a Ferengi Stardrifter, definitely not virgin this time. "How did he die?"

"Slit throat. It seems that Crewman Jellitt did it."

"That's unfortunate. I'm not sure he deserved that. That's not how I would have done it."

"And how would you have done it?"

"Differently."

"Poison?"

"Yes."

"Siriptu?

"Yes, that sounds about right."

"There was Siriptu in his blood."

"I'm afraid there's no Siriptu in my quarters."

"Not anymore, at least."

"Never, in fact." Aimes paused before he asked the next question.

"Did you poison him?"

"I've never poisoned an innocent man."

"Cotso wasn't innocent." Now it was the Commander's turn to pause.

"I'm not saying I hadn't thought about it." Greer pushed his drink away. "But I didn't. I'm a human being."

"I find it difficult to believe that a human being could have done what you did to Seerv?"

"Seerv warranted it." Greer stood up. "And you'll see tomorrow, when we reach the other side of The Burren." He pushed his chair back under the bar. "Good night, Captain."

**End.**

**Next Chapter: Phoenix**


	5. Chapter 5: Blood From A Stone

**It's been a while. Thank you to all who reviewed. The feedback is very encouraging. I will keep this story coming anyway. I've decided to keep it coming more consistently than since I started it. So without further delay:**

**Chapter 5: Blood From A Stone**

The sound of cutlery scratching delph can be hell to some who hear it. They squeeze their eyes shut and grimace. Some will feel a sharp pain in their teeth. For others, their spine will shudder, like the knife itself is being dragged along each vertebrae. However, at just the right frequency, it can be bliss for a Kikiran.

Bebetos awoke to just the right frequency, such was the alarm sound he had programmed to stir him every morning since joining Starfleet. It was 0500. "Perfect." The large alien yawned. Kikirans had the enviable attribute of needing only two hours sleep, at most, to be fully replenished for their next day. It should also be noted that Kikiran days can last up to 66 hours, depending on the orbit of planet Kirik's three satellites.

Today would be the longest day of Doctor Bebetos' life.

He swaggered to the washing area and brushed his teeth. 6 on top, 6 below, each with the ability to cut a diamond and remain untarnished. He didn't wash his hair because he didn't have any. No Kikiran had for at least a millenium, and even the stories that remained of such were regarded by most as fiction. The Doctor was careful to apply eyedrops to his white, pupil-less eyes, and ointment to the top of his cubic scalp, though not just for medical purposes – it was important to look good for the ladies too. A quick sonic shower followed, with a trip to the wardrobe just after. 0511. "And I'm ready for another day!"

It took the Doctor exactly three minutes to walk to sickbay, and he would have a solid sixteen minutes to check all the equipment was in perfect working condition, attend to his collection of plants, and appraise himself of all scheduled appointments for his shift until he was officially on duty.

0622.

"All set crewman, though next time I would advise against partaking in an armwrestle with the Mr. Degec."

0754.

"That is quite a rash. Have you been using the proper safety attire when in close proximity to the warp core?"

0929.

"No, even with the safety protocols off, a holodeck character cannot get you pregnant."

1147.

"I don't see why not. Just remember to keep them well-oiled, or you'll be quadriplegic until we get to a Starbase."

1200 and lunch was coming up in an hour. It had been a good day for the doctor. Nice, trivial issues to keep him ticking over, making him feel his decision down the medical path was a well justified one, making things better one bandage at a time. He checked his schedule to see what was left to do before lunch.

1205 resume xenomorph autopsy.

That wasn't what he wanted to see. Bebetos let out a heavy sigh and trudged over to the stasis area. The past 48 hours had been particularly difficult for him, when these beasts were taken into account. Their cellular structure was nigh-on impenetrable and anything he had found on them was inconclusive, even when juxtaposed with samples voluntarily supplied by Lieutenant Degec.

He typed in a sequence and a tray slid out with the body of a monster on it, still somewhat intact but for the scythed-off right leg and the facial burns. He had virtually disintegrated the first two specimens and hadn't found a jot that he couldn't already discern just by looking at them. "Clandestine? Too right. Clean as a whistle." He harumphed. Who was he kidding? His smile couldn't fool anyone. He was miserable. The sense of depression he got as he spent time around these things was overwhelming, like they were still conscious – reaching out to him and giving him nightmares while he was fully awake. This body was that of the beast that was dragging Haley away during the attack.

He reached for the scalpel laser and charged it, aiming at the brow of the creature. It's eyes were dead when the thing was alive. Now that it was dead, it seemed like they were still alive, even though lifesign scans proved the contrary. The creature's forehead split open gracefully and a small trickle of bright red blood slipped out.

"Here we go again."

XXXXXXXXX

Shelling was on duty on the bridge this morning. The Captain was due on in the next hour, but she just assumed that he would be late. He spent the last two nights drinking brews of questionable origin heavily with Greer. While the young Lieutenant Commander was seemingly unaffected, she wondered just how long the brittle bones of her sectegenarian superior could handle it.

...

Shelling really hated it when things were progressing this slowly. She was almost thankful to hear an alarm come from the navigation console. Raka Degec was moving quickly.

"Report."

"We appear to have stopped, Commander. Engines have failed." The large reptile responded.

"Great." she crooned and smacked her combadge. "Engineering-"

"I know, sir!" Teddy Jarvis responded. "I have no idea what caused it, but we're locating the source of the issue right now. Please stand by." The engineer cut off the communication and grabbed the two crewmen nearest to him. Together they detected that a crucial junction two Jefferies tubes up had simply lost power. They grabbed a portable power pack and a standard repair kit to jury-rig the system until they found out how to permenantly stabilise it. "We'll be holding this damn ship together with chewing gum soon." he bemoaned.

Back on the bridge, another alarm was going off, this time on Haley Kepler's console.

"Commander... I'm getting a strong spatial flux reading emerging from our negative-y axis." The ensign sounded alarmed. As a science student, she had heard rumour of chaotic phenomena appearing suddenly inside the Burren. As an unhappy coincidence, it turned out those rumours were true. "Whatever it is, is pulling us in!"

Shelling acted quickly. "Jarvis! We've got a critical situation up here, we need engines back, now!"

"I hear you, Commander. My team is almost there, E.T.A., two minutes."

"Commander!" Haley screamed. "That isn't enough time! The vortex will have engulfed the ship within twenty seconds!"

"Shields!"

"They won't have any effect. We'll still get dragged in!"

Challenger started shaking ominously. A low-resonance sound could be heard and felt under the crew's feet. Shelling could feel her eyes shaking. She wanted her vision to come back into focus desperately. Other bridge crew fell to their knees, clasping their necks and crying. It was unbearable. It was over. Then... nothing.

The familiar hum of the computer was restored and everyone was still alive. Raka Degec was upright at his station.

"Did we... go in?"

"No, Commander." He reported. "Engines are online and we are clear of the aperture. Current distance is 8,000 kilometres and climbing." It was safe to say that everyone was stunned. The crew got back to their feet and staggered back to their positions. Aria Shelling put her hand to her chest.

"Lieutenant Jarvis, let me be the first to congratulate you some very punctual work." She smiled. "You saved us."

"Commander..." The man replied. "I'm still 30 metres away from the fixture."

"... Then what fixed it?"

"You've got me, sir. Getting closer to it now." Jarvis inspected the area around the console. It snelled exceptionally bad, like rotten meat, sulfur and ozone. There was a gooey discharge along the ground, which had a distinctly vomit-like texture. The electronics, however, were a different matter entirely. Every piece of wiring looked new, the whole area was working at optimal efficiency. The terminal looked as good as it did the day the ship came out of space dock. Better, in fact. There wasn't even a hint that anything could ever go wrong with the machine. Jarvis scanned it with his tricorder, but detected nothing. The dischatge didn't even register. "Commander... you are not going to believe this..."

XXXXXXXXX

Nothing. Another hour of trying and Bebetos still couldn't extract anything from this beast on his medical table. Even in death this bloody thing is depressing, he thought. He keyed the sequence back in and the remains slid out of sight. He cleaned himself down from the blood spatters on his uniform and sterilised anything that might have caught under his fingernails. Bloody Clandestine. Bloody spatial anomaly. Bloody everything. To hell with it, he thought. It's lunchtime.

On that thought, lieutenant commander Greer came in to the sickbay. Bebetos put on his smile again. "Ah, Lieutenant Commander! I'm just about to go on lunch. Care for a chess rematch over some Cardassian mince?" Greer smiled.

"As much as you and I are destined to once more clash, Doctor, I'm afraid I will have to pass on that particular delight for now. We're coming out of the Burren in the next two hours, and I've got a lot of matters to attend to until then."

"I see." Bebetos clicked. "So to what do I owe the pleasure...?" Greer extended his arm. In his hand was a tricorder.

"In 90 minutes, Seerv is going to come in here for decontamination, before we expose him back to his species. You're going to scan him with this, do whatever else you need to do, then send him on his merry way."

Bebetos was understandably apprehensive. "What is it, then?"

"That's classified, doc."

"It's not going to hurt him, is it?" The Lt. Commander remained silent. "I'm not going to use anything on a person that would cause them to come to any harm! I swore an-"

"Keep your voice down." Greer hushed. He checked to make sure the door was shut, then swept a little closer to his friend. "Between you and me, this is just a normal medical tricorder, exactly the same as all those you've used since the academy, but with one important difference – it will leave a near undetectable signal on the atoms that make up Seerv's liquidic structure. It won't harm him in any way." He pushed it into Bebetos' hands. "There's no guarantee that when we let this guy go, he'll ever try to contact us again. We, on the other hand, will need to." The Doctor paused for a minute. He breathed and then, finally, slowly nodded.

"Ok."

"Ok?"

"Ok, yeah. I'll do it." Greer smiled.

"Thanks, doc. I knew I could trust you." He then started walking towards the door. "You won't tell anyone about this, doc? What I told you is highly classified." The Doctor tapped the tricorder in his hand and smiled at his superior.

"Patient-doctor confidentiality, my friend. Patient-doctor confidentiality."

XXXXXXXXX

The mess hall was full of crew members with their sleeves in front of their noses. The smell was unbearable. Teddy Jarvis's mind was racing, while his body was sweating, and he was concentrating more on trying not to throw up on himself.

"I swear, the replicator wasn't working and then all of a sudden, it's like a new one is transported in in it's place!" A crewman exclaimed, her voice full of confusion. "Absolutely insane! Then this terrible smell came..."

"Is this something those aliens did? Something they left behind to sabotage the ship?" another suggested.

"Don't be daft! What kind of sabotage works by repairing and improving systems that weren't working?"

"A sneaky one..."

Bebetos marched in through the door, his head heavy.

"Tbank goodness you're here, doc. I can't find out what's wrong in here. Except for the smell." Teddy Jarvis greeted the Kikiran. "And I have no idea what's causing it."

"Unluckily for me, I have no sense of smell." Bebetos mused as he took out his normal tricorder. He scanned the air and tried to identify any harmful bacteria. After several moments of not paying attention to the repulsed crew's ramblings, he closed the tricorder. "The good news is: it's not fatal."

"It's horrible!"

"Yes, but it's not going to stab you anytime soon."

"So what's the bad news?" Jarvis asked, sleeve still firmly attached to his nose.

"The bad news is, whoever or whatever's doing it is moving very fast through the ship's bodywork. It's currently over the holodecks."

"Kill him." A voice said.

"Sorry, Lieutenant, did you just...?"

"I asked how do you know that?" Bebetos decided quickly he had just severely misheard Jarvis and opened his tricorder again, showing the Lieutenant his active display of something moving at an exceptional speed over the holodeck grid.

"I don't know too many Starfleet officers who can move at that speed, and none of them are on board this ship. It's not Seerv, because he couldn't sneeze without security finding out about it, and it's not one of the aliens that attacked us, because it's too small."

"You know who it is?" Jarvis accused.

"I do." Bebetos smiled. "And seeing as you're going to have a lot of free time, because this thing is doing your job for you, I'll leave you to solve the mystery."

Before he could object, the communicator on Jarvis' chest beeped. "Lieutenant Jarvis, please report to Holodeck 1."

XXXXXXXXX

In sickbay, the Doctor was fondling the tricorder given to him by Greer. He opened it, snapped it shut, studied it. To the naked eye, there was no way to tell that this little device had a different purpose to a normal tricorder. It had the same sounds, same feel, same weight, same operations.

Seerv entered the room with a security detail, and Bebetos got that unsettling, unmistakable feeling that something very bad was going to occur in the next few minutes.

"Hello again, Doctor." The oddly melodic voice spoke. "Nice to meet you again without a containment field to separate us." He placed himself down on a bed.

"You'd be surprised how many patients I have to treat in a prison." The Kikiran said coldly, nervously. He commenced his tests on Seerv.

"We're all in some sort of prison, Doctor. This starship – this room; your very routine is probably your own prison. You know how I know that?"

"No." said Bebetos, forgetting his bedside manner while concentrating on his work.

"You're meticulous." He observed. "Every piece of equipment in this laboratory isn't just organised – it's perfectly positioned. Every part of my anatomy is in constant motion, yet I'm sure you've found a precise and logical method for analysing every part of me. I would stake a lot that you've worked out the proximity of each tool to each gurney by the likelihood of its use." There was a moment of silence as the doctor proceeded on expediently with his task. "You have, haven't you? And that's just it. Your inability to break yourself from this monotony is what keeps you imprisoned. As much as you'd like to believe you can change it; that you can stop right now and do whatever the hell you want, you can't. Because that's just not who you are – a free man." The doctor didn't answer. "I'm still in a prison too, really. This one's just a bit bigger. I get to stretch my legs more."

"You don't have any legs, Seerv."

"Touché, Doctor."

"Where did you learn that word? You've only been on the ship a matter of days."

"Isn't that enough time to learn the nuances of your Federation dialects?"

"Not nearly enough." He breathed and picked up Greer's tricorder. The tests were complete; it was time to get things moving. He placed it up to the alien's helmet and began to scan.

"He's going to kill me, you know." Seerv announced. The Doctor paused.

"Who?"

"Your Lieutenant Commander. I can see it in him. I could solve a lot of his problems by being dead." The Doctor was still. He contemplated the alien's thoughts. "He tortured me. Did you know that? I understand that will get him in trouble with his superiors. But if he was to eliminate me, it would relieve a lot of issues for him." The Doctor now couldn't take his eyes off of the instrument. "But he'd have to do it in some underhanded way. A sideways stab, or a mass incident. Maybe he'd kill a few people at the same time to ease his troubles? Much more pointless to courtmartial someone over a victim of natural causes. But I can see it in him." He turned to face Bebetos. "I can see what people are feeling. I can see fear in you Doctor." The two stared long and hard at one another. "That just corroborates it. Well if you do know the plot, I doubt you'd tell me. Are we done here?"

Bebetos took a moment and closed the tricorder without using it. "Yes, we're done. You may go. The decontamination procedure is complete."

"Very good." Seerv lifted himself from the bed. "I don't expect to see you again, Doctor, but for what it's worth you've been the least offensive biped I've ever met."

"Because I'm a doctor?"

"Because you're the only one I've met who doesn't have a thinly veiled desire to murder me." He turned to leave, but the Doctor stopped him and the security detail before they reached the door.

"Wait, Seerv. Take this." He handed him a plant. "It's a Ferocactus Pilosus." The alien's expression was blank – as blank as an inanimate mask could get. "Or more commonly known as a cactus. It's known for being able to retain large quantities of liquid, so... maybe you can use it as a backup suit... or something?"

Seerv paused for a moment, not looking away from the potted plant for some time, before aiming towards the Doctor again. "Definitely the least offensive." He then unexpectedly switched his gaze over to the mortuary area. "Having any luck dissecting our mutual friends over there?"

"No. Nothing. Precious little at most."

"Well if you do find something astonishing, remember, don't let it get to your head." Seerv tapped his helmet. "Goodbye, Doctor."

XXXXXXXXX

Captain Noah Aimes emerged from the turbolift. Within the next five minutes, the Challenger would become the first Starfleet vessel to officially traverse the Burren. There was an undeniable sense of excitement flowing around the ship. For many who just thought they were condemned to spend their life patrolling the safe side of the phenomenon, they were about to become true explorerers. Aimes finally felt that his 71 indifferent years had become just a little bit more significant.

"Report."

"Warp drive is fully operational, Captain, should we require an immediate exit. Weapons and shields are on standby. Medium range communications are online and long-range is available for one-way outbound connection." Commander Shelling duly obliged.

"Excellent. Where is Seerv?"

"Security are bringing him to the bridge now, sir." Aimes took his seat and lay back, pensive. His fingers touched in front of his face as he sat looking at the viewscreen, still somewhat singed after the Clandestine encounter. The edge of the Burren was within touching distance now. Moments later, Greer swooped onto the bridge. From another turbolift, Seerv and two crewmen arrived.

"Ready for the big show?" He asked. No one responded.

"Exiting the Burren in 20 seconds." They were twenty long, stifling seconds. Many members of the crew had second thoughts. What if there was a Clandestine fleet just beyond the border, waiting for them? There was no way to know from the inside what the outside looked like. Maybe it would be a hugely active alien spaceport, never before reported, like the Deep Space facilities back on the other side. No one was quite expecting what was really there.

"We have exited the-"

"ALL STOP! ENGINES REVERSE!" Raka Degec's almost instant reaction stopped Challenger from crashing into an enormous satellite, sat on the edge of the Burren. The viewscreen couldn't encompass just how big the object they were looking at was.

"It's a satellite, sir."

"I can see what it is, damnit!" He turned to the ship's most notorious guest. "Seerv?"

"This... thing definitely wasn't here when I crossed over Captain. It's hard to miss somethin g of this magnitude." The satellite was shaped somewhat like an elongated sea anemonae, with a pale monochrome colour stretching all over, with four of the extensions having dark blue rings around them, barely visible against space. The structure was the size of a planet, and it appeared to be moving into the Burren.

"Open hailing frequencies, see if that thing is sending a-"

A towering, echoing beep was pulsing intermittently throughout the ship. The signal was coming through before Ensign Kepler even put in the command to contact the device.

"Captain, there's a signal riding on the back of the carrier!" She shouted over the noise.

"Can you put it through? And see if you can quench that damned noise!"

"Aye, sir!"

The Ensign managed to reduce the volume of the beeps and a somewhat garbled voice was passing through the crew's ears. It was unmistakably a voice, but not any kind of voice they had heard before. All eyes turned to Seerv.

"It's a species from this side- Lumence... the message is not good news, Captain." The satellite passed into the Burren and the noise disappeared. "There were twelve billion citiens on their homeworld when I left. And now, it would seem that the entire civilisation of Lumence is dead. It would appear... most everything in this sector is dead."

"Captain, three ships decloaking to port!"

"Raise shields! Onscreen." The viewscreen showed the three ships, all wrecks that look like they'd been shoved together and were now moving somewhat miraculously. They were the same kind of blurred starship that sped away from the wreck of Starbase 4-3. Only larger and meaner, and frustratingly for Haley Kepler, nearly impenetrable to sensors. While everyone was distracted with the goings-on, Seerv disarmed one of his guards and slammed into Greer. He held a phaser to his neck as everyone else caught up.

"Listen to me very carefully." He spoke slowly. "Those are my people's ships. Lower the shields, let me take your Lieutenant Commander here with me, and I promise we will not destroy your ship."

"No dice!" The Captain himself was now holding a phaser aimed at Seerv. "Put that phaser down now and you can live instead."

"Greer-"

"-will be brought to justice by the full extent of our courts, you have my word on that." While Seerv was thinking, he suddenly began transporting out. Greer was left on the floor, coughing. Aimes smacked his communicator. "Damnit Jarvis! What the hell just happened?"

"The same thing as happened earlier with the engines Captain!" Was the answer from engineering. "The system just... shuts down... then comes back online. I read the shields working at 115 efficiency right now."

"We lost Seerv. Can you get a lock on him?"

"I doubt it sir." Ensign Kepler said. "I can barely scan the ship. It's impossible to detect which one he's even on." She tried furiously to get a look inside, but had no luck. "Sir, they're moving away!" The three vessels sped off in different directions.

"Which one do we pursue, sir?" Lieutenant Degec asked.

The Captain looked down at his walking stick, as he replaced his sidearm. "None of them."

"Captain?"

"Hold position, Lieutenant. Now we wait." He looked up at his crew and marched towards Lieutenant Commander Greer. "I hope your gambit pays off, Commander."

"I hope you enjoyed life." The security officer coughed. "Because if it doesn't, none of us is going to enjoy it for much longer."

End.


	6. Chapter 6: The Grey Man

_**This is the chapter that I feel will tie up what I see as 'Series One' of Challenger. I apologise for taking as long as I did with it. Expect the next parts a lot sooner. This story is a real labour of love for me, so I hope you enjoy.**_

Haley Kepler was busy making herself look pretty. She was a good looking woman, for sure. But she was dressed to impress today. It had been 16 hours since Seerv had escaped the ship and the mysterious gargantuan satellite disappeared into the nebula; and Challenger hadn't moved a millimetre since. There was nothing new for the science officer to study since the satellite passed through the Burren, leaving her with a clear schedule, and free reign to surprise Chief Engineer Lieutenant Theodore Francis Jarvis with a birthday cake.

The ship's Chief Engineer was 26 today. On a regular Starfleet ship he would have been considered far too young for such a position, but Challenger was not anywhere near being considered a flagship. It was a science vessel, with limited resources and minimal defences. And here they were, past the official limit of where Starfleet vessels had dared to tread. Of course, everyone in Starfleet wished to be an explorer, but Haley would have preferred it if the ship wasn't in such a vulnerable state when it happened to her.

She tried not to think about it. She had baked a cake to take her mind off it. The intimate touch would have been lost if it was just replicated, she felt. It was just the ingredients that had been replicated - all the baking was by her own hand. Haley lit a candle and lifted the cake off of its careful platform, before leaving her quarters and heading to engineering. The journey to the turbolift was met with a few raised eyebrows and very courteous smiles. Seeing someone out of uniform had a nice, almost foreign, appeal to everyone on board, and Haley quite liked the attention. The turbolift pinged; the doors spread open. The lights were out in engineering.

Haley could hear the low, constant rhythm of the beating warp core ahead of her, the burning blue outline impossible to miss, but she could hear no voices or other sounds. It was like no one was there.

"Hello?" She whispered. Nothing responded but an echo. Challenger's engine room was vast compared to most other starships of this age. The whole place felt industrial. The ship had not been serviced since its launch 12 years previous to now, an image not helped by the recent tragedy at Starbase 4-3.

The candle on the cake illuminated an engineering console to her right. She placed the cake on it and, while fumbling around, found a toolkit. She fished out a torch and shone it around the room at head height. "Is anyone here?" She took a few slow-paced steps forward, eventually her foot became caught. She let out a silent scream as she saw Ensign Fangzhou slumped on the floor, with some drool coming out of his mouth. She quickly checked for a pulse – there was a strong one. He was only unconscious, but there was an odd device around his chest. It was like a belt and a blue light was intermittently turning on and off on it. Spreading the light beams to the ground, she located at least three more, panicking slightly when she couldn't locate Teddy. She tapped her comm unit, about to call for the doctor, but was met with only a fierce haze.

That was when she heard the footsteps.

Haley cast the light towards the noise. A humanoid figure was standing just over two metres away from her – it boasted a leather-like silver appearance, which she wasn't sure was suit or skin. It was wearing an elongated triangular mask that was definitely turned towards her. Her appearance had obviously been unexpected and unwelcome.

"Who-" The being leapt at her at speed and slammed her down to the ground, ripping off the communicator and left shoulder of her dress in one swift move. To her great relief, it then rapidly released her and ran towards the rear exit of engineering, out of sight. The young science officer pulled herself together and wrangled the communicator out of the mess of cloth and screamed out "Intruder! Engineering has been attacked!"

"Lockdown turbolifts!" Captain Aimes yelled from the bridge. "I want security teams on all possible approaches from engineering to the shuttlebay!" He looked to Commander Shelling for a report.

"I've located him in section four on the shutlebay deck… section 7… it's fast. All teams prepare to intercept at section 13!" The confirmation of orders had set in and Shelling watched as a staggered formation appeared on her monitor. Although somewhat disjointed due to recent casualties, the security personnel were well regimented.

"Could it be Seerv?"

"No, Captain. This is something else." Voices could now be heard coming from Shelling's console. The security force had engaged the intruder.

"Hostile sighted… taking aim… look out he's… what the… who… sh… Rhodes!... LET GO! LET GO!... my gun!... Fall back! Fall back!... it's-" A rumble was felt through the ship. Shelling saw that it had emerged from engineering. The voices still came through. "The lights?... nstoppab… some sort of… got him! I got hi-… 6 down!... sickbay!... getting away…"

Ten seconds silence followed, succeeded by a loud beeping noise. "A shuttle has left the ship. Attempting a tractor… got it."

In engineering, Kepler had barely picked herself up when she heard the earlier rumble. There was a foreign object on the console to her left. It appeared to be the computer for controlling the lighting in the lower half of the ship. She looked around and saw another odd device on the warp core. It didn't take a lot of figuring out as to what it was. She hurt herself tapping the communicator as fast as she did. "Captain! There's a bomb in Engineering!" She heard a high-pitched frequency getting higher and higher. "It's active sir! I think we've only seconds before…"

Aimes was sweating. _What happened?_ he thought. _Why was there no indication of anything amiss? Engineering is one of the most heavily staffed locations on the ship. Surely someone would have noticed? Who would be responsible for NOT noticing? Not Captain Noah bloody Aimes, that's for sure._ "Eject the warp core."

"Sir!" Shelling's voice was alarmed. "Ejecting the warp core would leave us totally vulnerable out here! We couldn't outrun anyone and may not even make it back throu-"

"We're dead if we don't! Now do it!"

Without further argument, Shelling punched in the necessary security override, "Sir…" Her voice was now bleak. "Systems are not responding." Aimes' heart stopped. There was absolutely nothing he could do. All his life he was at the mercy of technology, but only now did he really feel it. He closed his eyes. Aria Shelling, attentive to the last switched her monitor onto the shuttle held in place by tractor beam. Haley Kepler took cover behind a pillar and tucked her head into her knees, wishing someone was there to hold her.

The bomb exploded and everything went black. Aimes remembered a story his uncle told him years ago about death. About what it was like and the way it happened. He said death was not a serious man. He liked a good joke, as you had to if indeed you were death. The uncle said to his nephew that the first, everything would turn black, and you wouldn't realise it for a few minutes, but you weren't dead yet. This was just a preview of what it was like. And death would wait for the exact moment you realised how empty it was going to be before taking your life, because he got a kick out of it. Then, he would send you back for one last hurrah, before suffocating you for the last time.

The lights came back on and the rest of the crew looked confused. Aimes knew that this was his last hurrah.

"Report."

"The bomb… the bomb appeared to be of an electromagnetic nature, Captain. And a temporary one at that. All systems coming back online. Casualty reports coming in… several wounded, but no deaths."

"Shuttle?"

"Gone. It got away when the tractor beam was disabled. Along with everything else."

Aimes rubbed his eyes. He couldn't really think of a word bad enough for what had just happened. A Starfleet vessel had just been brought to its knees by one person. How could anyone have gotten onboard? He tapped his combadge and grimaced as he headed for the ready room. "All senior personnel report to the ready room in 6 minutes.

XXXXXXXXX

Commander Aria Shelling, Lieutenant Commander Cathal Greer, Doctor Win Bebetos, Ensign Haley Kepler, still in her torn dress, Lieutenants Theodore Jarvis and Raka Degec stood in a semi-circle in front of Aimes' desk. In their faces he saw both fear and anger, some more unbalanced than in others. Some tried not to show it, but it was there. In all of them. He cleared his throat.

"People. We are in a position that we can no longer consolidate. For scientific-" he looked at Greer. "Or any other purposes. So effective immediately, I am withdrawing Challenger from this side of the Burren."

Greer's eyes exploded. Both he and the Captain knew damn well the ramifications of what this decision meant for him. Aria Shelling showed a smirk on her face for a split second. She had an idea as to what would happen too.

"Greer and Degec, your immediate job will be to investigate what has happened this morning. Find out who has done this, how and why. Ensign Kepler, you will assist the Commander in this, seeing as it was you who made first contact with the intruder."

"Aye, sir."

"Lieutenant Jarvis, I want all power diverted to engines and shields. We're in no state to fight an enemy, so if we encounter anything, let's make sure we can at least run to fight another day. Doctor, you are to look at any footage we have of the intruder and see if you can determine anything about its physiology."

"Yes, sir." They both responded.

"Commander Shelling, I want you to see if you can track the trajectory of the shuttlecraft, see where it went, and if there's any way of finding it in the future." Aimes looked around the table. No one's faces had changed that much since they stepped in. "Any questions?" Everyone was quiet. "In that case, get to it. Dismissed."

Twenty seconds later, everyone had left the room, bar Greer. "Something to add, Mr. Greer?"

"You know I can't let you leave our position." He threatened menacingly.

"You were planning on stopping me?" Aimes asked. Greer bit his tongue.

"No. But if we leave here now, we'll never be able to find Seerv again. The tracking device I had the doctor place into his bloodstream will only be active for the next 12 hours."

"Have you located Seerv's convoy?"

"Yes. But just because they're stationary on our sensors at the moment, doesn't mean that that's their base of operations."

"Where are they?"

"Currently inside a gas cloud, making it very hard to detect. Thankfully, Starfleet's best equipment is making it possible at all." Aimes was silent. His lips were sealed. "Look, you know as well as I do exactly where that shuttlecraft is going. When it intercepts Seerv's vessel; that proves I was right and that Seerv is complicit in what happened back on the other side. It proves he had contact with someone inside the Federation previous to our encounter and that shows that there was an internal plot to destroy that Starbase!" Aimes still didn't speak. "Damnit, sir! You know that I'll hang if we go back without any evidence!"

"And I'd rather you hang than risk letting this ship get blown up in hostile and unknown territory. In know you missed it in bed, Lt. Cmdr., but we could very easily have been blown up without anticipating it a few moments ago."

"If you don't have the balls to stay here, Captain, then you should have said so first, but consider that there is something much bigger at stake here! Yes, I'm worried for my own life. I'm scared here, but the fact of the matter is, I'd willingly risk the lives of the 159 people on this ship in order to find whoever was responsible for Starbase 4-3, and stop them before they decide to do it again, or something worse!"

Aimes' mind groaned. He didn't like the thought of staying an extra second in this place, but he knew Greer was right. This was the only lead they had left to follow from the disaster on the Starbase. "How much time do you need?"

"At maximum warp, the shuttle will reach Seerv's ships in 117 minutes." Greer responded.

"Then we enter the Burren in two hours. Get onto the bridge and start a countdown."

"Aye, sir!" He smiled and about-turned quickly.

"And Greer. The next time you accuse me of having no balls, I'll have yours removed. With or without a sanction."

XXXXXXXXX

Haley Kepler was getting checked out by the Doctor. She didn't have any injuries, which wasn't surprising considering she had only been pushed, and despite her proximity to the EM bomb, it had no effect on her physical person, though she did have a ringing in her ear similar to tinnitus. She fixed up her uniform and continued making casual conversation with the Doctor.

"Determine anything interesting about our assailant yet?"

"Nothing at all. Humanoid. Very athletic. Wore a silver suit. Allegedly, security managed to wing him, on the right shoulder. But there's no telling if it even injured him." The doctor showed her the frame of the image on which the intruder was caught, just before the lights gave way in the corridor. She looked at it with a certain shiver. "Did he say anything to you?"

"Nothing." She said, and let her brain run on its own from a minute. "How do you know it's a man?" She queried.

"Oh." Bebetos seemed flustered. "Well I… don't _know_, exactly, but I have an intuition for this sort of thing."

"Right." She said warily. "I'd better get going. I've got to meet Raka."

XXXXXXXXX

The two hours were nearly up. Greer, Degec and Kepler were all in the ready room again. Aimes was eager to hear what they had found and Greer was happy to oblige.

"The first thing we checked out was how this thing could get onto the ship without us knowing. Transport would have been detected. If the Clandestine had left something here, a sleeper, it would have been detected. Any sort of breach of the hull would have been detected. Barring a technology that we've never seen before, there's no way that Challenger would have been infiltrated."

"So what you're saying is, someone who was already on board did this? A member of the crew?" Aimes asked.

"Yes." Lieutenant Degec confirmed. "After the bomb was detonated, the casualty report came in and there were 159 crew identified as being on board. I took a manual check around on the sensors and could only account for 158."

"Is it possible you made a mistake?"

"I never make mistakes."

"So who's missing?"

"I took a look at the 159 reports that came in." Degec continued, "One of them was falsified. That of Ensign Fangzhou." Kepler's heart skipped a beat. She had seen Fangzhou unconscious in engineering when she was attacked.

"I don't believe I've met the Ensign yet." Aimes said. "And it doesn't seem like I'm likely to."

"There was only one life sign aboard the shuttle when it left sir, and no one has departed the Challenger since. It must have been Fangzhou."

"Very good, people. Very good. I'll file it." The Captain sighed. 71 years without a hitch and then suddenly there is a whole group of traitors in Starfleet; one of whom was under his command. Greer and Degec left the room, but Haley Kepler hesitated. "You may speak, Ms. Kepler. I won't bite."

"Captain… something about the report that you just heard concerns me." Kepler revealed what had taken place exactly in engineering and the fact that Fangzhou was unconscious on the floor of engineering at the time. At first, Aimes suggested if she may have mistaken him for someone else, but she was sure, and true enough, records placed Fangzhou on duty in engineering at the time of the incident. No one else that was incapacitated at the time fitted Kepler's description.

"What does this mean, Captain?"

"It means…" he sighed. "That though Fangzhou is not on board the ship at the moment… the person responsible still is." This was not the solution either of them wanted to know. "Did you tell anyone else about this? That you saw Fangzhou? Greer?"

"No, sir."

"You're friends, aren't you? Don't you trust him?"

"After what he did to that alien, sir; not entirely, no." She felt bad criticising The Lt. Cmdr. behind his back. Aimes sat down and fumbled his walking stick onto his knees.

"I don't either."

"Do you think he could be the intruder?"

"Athletic, knowledge of ship's complimentary systems… yes, he fits the description, but then so does 80 of the crew. Access to material that could create the weapons he had, however. That's a different matter." He put down the stick and loaded up a thorough crew manifest. "That narrows down who could have done it. Thank you for telling me this, Ensign. I'd appreciate if you just kept this information between us at the moment."

"Isn't there anyone else we can trust, sir?"

"Not enough."

The Captain's communicator came alive. "Captain Aimes, we need you on the bridge."

XXXXXXX

Aimes stumbled onto the bridge. Greer and Shelling were attentively looking at the viewscreeen. It was clear on the screen that they had tracked the trajectory of the shuttle and had matched it with the current whereabouts of Seerv. The shuttle was almost on top of the liquid's ship.

"Have they made contact?"

"They're just about to, sir. Shuttlecraft is entering the…"

The shuttlecraft blip disappeared from the viewscreen.

"What happened?" The Captain asked. "Where did it go?" No one had an answer. No one actually knew, but they believed the worst. Greer looked horrified. Aimes knew he had bet everything on the shuttle making contact with Seerv's ship. That was now not to be.

"Visual message coming through, sir. It's very weak." Raka Degec said. "Putting it through…"

Seerv's helmet appeared onscreen, interspersed with the analysis of the previous image and a hail of static.

"You just couldn't let it go, could you?" He seethed. "You had to come follow me even if it meant the death of one of your crew. And let me assure you, the pilot of your shuttle is very dead." Everyone's eyes were glued to the screen. "I'm surprised the Clandestine haven't already killed you yet. You can be sure they have detected you, Leave. And never come back. For your own good." The screen went black. Aimes wasted no time.

"Lieutenant. Set a course back through the Burren and engage."

"Aye, sir." Degec responded.

XXXXXXXXX

Teddy Jarvis and Haley Kepler fell onto the Lieutenant's bed together. They had been alone in the bar for a drink. Then two. Then more. And now they were on Jarvis' bed, kissing and touching. Quickly, they removed one another's clothes. They didn't bother to turn off the lights, or freshen up, or anything else that might have distracted them. They were focused on the intimate moment between them, right here, right now.

She smiled. For Teddy, it was the best birthday ever. Kepler closed her eyes as she lay on the pillow. She reached up and put her arms around Teddy's neck. "Ow!" He squeaked. The Ensign opened her eyes to see him grabbing his right shoulder. It had a burn mark on it.

"Where did you get that?"

"Oh this? I got burned against a panel. Got it a few days ago, nothing serious."

"Did you go to the Doctor?"

"No. Why would I?" He asked. She looked nervous, terrified even. "Haley, is everything alright?"

"Yes." She said. "Yes. Just hug me." They slept together that night, but Kepler did not close her eyes as she tried to recall exactly where the Lieutenant was when engineering was attacked.

XXXXXXXXX

Two days later, the Challenger emerged from the Burren. As much as things could be, considering the circumstances. Weapons were operational again, engineering was fully operational after the EM bomb and crew efficiency was up a few points. As they exited the spatial phenomenon, they were again greeted by the same huge satellite they had nearly crashed into on the other side. It had made it through unscathed and it also seemed it had stopped transmitting the overwhelming signal. Starfleet teams were already on the outside, inspecting and investigating it. Aimes' wondered what they had come up with.

He wasn't looking forward to the next few hours. He would have to hang Greer out to dry. He would have to explain two murders by two different people on his new ship within hours of one another, not to mention the disappearance of Lieutenant Fangzhou. The culprit for their earlier attack was still on the loose on board, he was sure. And furthermore, he would have to come back through the wreckage field of Starbase 4-3.

His thoughts were interrupted by a priority two message from Starfleet Command. He turned down the lighting and switched on his screen to be greeted by the face of Admiral White.

"Noah, good to see you've returned from the Burren in one piece."

"Nearly. Have you seen the ship you gave me?" He quipped.

"Well that's a matter of opinion. I have some grave news, Noah, and I can only hope I've warned you in time." Aimes knew in his heart what the Admiral was going to say before he had spoken.

"Over the last few days, several Starfleet vessels have come under attack from the inside. Men dressed in impenetrable, all-grey suits, planting bombs, then promptly fleeing their boats. All without warning."

"I'm afraid to say that the Challenger has also fallen foul of this, Admiral. 2 days ago, we were sabotaged." This information visibly concerned the Admiral.

"Yes, I see. This is disturbing." White stroked his chin.

"Not only that sir, but our assailant didn't leave. He faked his departure." This made the Admiral jump up, almost out of his seat.

"By God, are you sure?"

"Without any doubt, Admiral."

"Have you apprehended him yet?"

"Not as of yet, no. For obvious reasons, this has to be very subtly done."

"Agreed… well, we have."

"Have what?" Aimes leaned forward in his chair.

"Apprehended one of them. On the Discovery I believe you are familiar with him. Lieutenant Milo Pemley." Aimes had a flashback to the fresh-faced young Lieutenant who had shuttled him to Starbase 4-3. "This raises more questions than it answers. If Pemley knew about the bomb, why did he willingly fly head first towards it?"

"To remove any suspicion upon him? Who knows? Regardless, he will be interrogated and placed in a secure holding area until we know more." Admiral White's face became even more grave. "You realise his involvement places some suspicion on you too, Noah."

"Why would I want to-"

"I didn't say I believed you did." He interrupted. "Just don't expect some Starfleet contacts to be necessarily friendly in the future." Aimes frowned. He could understand, but this made him angry. Very angry. He kept it in check for the moment. "In the meantime, we have a new objective for you. You are to meet with the USS Phoenix at the location of Starbase 4-3. They are carrying a Cardassian ambassador who has information pertinent to the plot, but he demands immediate security before he tells anything. Noah…" White paused. "He knows _everything_." Aimes nodded. If this was true, then maybe there was yet some hope for justice over the tragedy. "Godspeed, Noah. White out."

As the screen slid back into the desk, Aimes looked up, the lights were still off. It didn't matter, a man covered all over in a grey suit was still plainly visible less than a metre away from him. He couldn't tell where the eyes were, but he knew it was staring at him murderously.

"One word and I can have ten security men in here within ten seconds."

"Ten more… bodies then." A computer-garbled voice came from the peak of the grey man's mask. Aimes could feel the sweat dripping down his back.

"What do you want?"

"I want… the ambassador… killed… within 12 hours… or I will… kill this ship… and everyone on it."

"I will not succumb to terrorist demands!" The grey man reached across the table and dragged Aimes' frail body towards him.

"And just what… will you give into?"

"Not you!" The Captain was defiant. "Never you!"

"Too bad." The grey man withdrew a long, sharp blade and stuck it into Aimes four times, one in the stomach, three in the chest. Blood was everywhere. He threw the elderly Captain down to the ground unceremoniously and stepped back into the dark. "Let's see... if your crew… complies." And disappeared.

Aimes reached for his communicator. There was so much blood around him. It hurt so badly, He could feel pain shooting up his arms and legs. The communicator was gone; the grey man had taken it and tossed it to the other side of the room. He could see it 5 metres away. He tried to pull himself towards it but his arms had given up. _Some last hurrah_ was all he could think. It was going black again. "Help me…" He wheezed and closed his eyes. "Help me…"

**TO BE CONTINUED**


End file.
